Field of Tomorrow
by Falneou17
Summary: A RWBY AU primarily containing White Rose but also has (hints to) others. What was thought to be a life-changing event turns out to be exactly that… but not in the way they wanted it to be! With nothing left but each other, Ruby and Weiss need everything they got to set things right… if that is even possible anymore! [Currently on hold]
1. The Red Rose

**Writing my White Rose oneshot was a lot of fun, so I figured I'd be trying my hand at a serious (read: multi-chaptered) series… so here we are!**

 **Special thanks to my good friend LightZephyr who helped out with ideas as well as proofreading this.**

 **Something worth noting is that** **this story has been planned and written with only knowledge up to the end of Volume 3 in mind. If you're reading this in the (distant) future and have, as a result, watched Volume 4 and beyond, you will likely see a few differences. Seeing as this is an AU, however, I hope it won't be _too_ big of an issue…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to RWBY. Also, for safety measures: I don't own Inazuma Eleven either (there are some small references here to that series, so…).**

* * *

As the sun's rays broke through the small crack in the curtains, life was starting to stir and rise in the city of Vale. The sleeping young woman in the room had her reddish black hair cover part of her face, mouth slightly open and breathing slowly but loudly in the otherwise serene bedroom.

A pool of bright sunlight slowly made its way up to the brunette's face, stopping at her face and continued to shine directly on the closed eyes. After a few minutes, the brunette stubbornly pulled her blanket up over her face in a desperate attempt to block out the rays of light and enjoy a few more minutes of blissful slumber. The brunette could feel her consciousness slipping as she embraced both the darkness she was in and the sleep she knew was coming.

"Rise and shineeeee~!"

The cry of the blonde woman who had burst inside the room sounded unusually loud in a place void of any sound, though the owner of the bedroom did not flinch at the older woman's sudden entrance. The brunette under the blanket did, however, curse under her breath as she grabbed a handful of the blanket in both her hands. Holding on to the blanket tightly as she mentally counted down from five… four… three… two… one…

As if on queue, the blonde ripped the blanket out of the brunette's hands and off her head, almost throwing it down on the ground in the process, and poured a bucketful worth of freezing water on the brunette's head without a second of hesitation.

"AAAAAAH!" the brunette yelped, jerking up in an upright position as her drenched bangs dripped on the covers below. A pinch of hurt washed over her as she saw the colors of the covers dilute a bit by the droplets of water coming from her hair. Taking a few seconds to calm down her racing heart and hectic breathing, the brunette carefully pulled her bangs up before glaring at the laughing blonde, "Yaaaaaang! How many times have I asked you to _not_ wake me up like that?"

"Sorry Ruby~" the blonde, Yang, laughed as she ruffled the hair of the shorter and drenched woman in bed. Ruby, understandably, tried to pry Yang's hands off of her head with little success. After having her fill of ruffling the brunette's hair, Yang grinned, "But it's the only way to get you to wake up these days–"

"No it isn't…" Ruby muttered under her breath, soft enough so that the other woman wouldn't hear her.

"And shouldn't a twenty-two-year-old woman like yourself be able to wake up on her own by now?" Yang smirked, looking at the flinched brunette with a glint of mischief and amusement in her eyes, "Come on little sis, you can't expect me to wake you up every day now can you?"

"One: I don't need your help to wake up everyday," Ruby huffed, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest as she looked up at the taller woman, "And two: I'm not little. I. drink. milk!"

"You'll always be my _little_ sister whether you drink milk or not; and you still need to get ready for the day Rubes," Yang chuckled, picking up the alarm on Ruby's bedside nightstand and tossing it onto Ruby's lap, "It's eight thirty and–"

"What?!" Ruby nearly shrieked in horror, looking at the alarm in her lap and, much to her dismay, saw that her sister was telling the truth. Jumping out of her bed, the brunette nearly lost her footing before she began throwing clothes about in a hazardous way, "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"Now now… what happened to your big talk of being all grown up, hm?" Yang smirked, clearly enjoying her sister's panic a bit more than she would have admitted to. Despite her obvious amusement, however, Yang was quick to help the brunette pick out an outfit to wear, "I figured that you would still be emotionally exhausted from the euphoria of the news. Talking about the news… how are you feeling?"

"Great! Just great! Thank you for asking Yang!" Ruby huffed, gathering her clothes in her arms and turning to go to the bathroom to freshen up. Before she stormed off, however, she took a moment to turn to her sister, "I would be feeling a lot better if I wasn't in such a hurry! If you had to wake me up, why couldn't you have done so a bit earlier?!"

Without waiting for a response, Ruby had kicked her bedroom door open and slammed it shut with her heel, leaving a perplexed blonde to sit on the bed's covers inside. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Yang began chuckling which soon turned into wholehearted laughter.

"I should get ready as well." Yang muttered to herself after what could have been several hours of laughing. Picking herself up from the bed, she sauntered out her sister's bedroom and made her way to her own.

* * *

"Salutations friend Ruby!"

"Good morning to you too—"

"You're late."

"I know I know! I'm sorry!"

"As punishment, you leave me no choice but to make you pay for our expenses today!"

"Friend Nora, do you not think that is a bit much?"

"It's alright Penny… she's right, I _was_ late…"

"But friend Ruby—"

"I said it is alright," Ruby sighed, slumping down in her chair and resting her chin on the round, wooden table she was sitting at. The young brunette had changed in a long crimson sweater over a black shirt and a long black skirt with a red horizontal line, along with black stockings and black sneakers.

Ruby was currently at her friend's house, which was located a few blocks down hers and Yang's. It was a humble two-story house, large enough to be comfortable but small enough to prevent people from getting lost in it. Along with two orange haired women, Ruby found herself in a room that functioned as both a living and a dining room.

Closing her eyes for a second, the brunette turned to one of the two orange haired women beside her, "Nora, remember: as long as it doesn't go over the usual. Yang and I are kind of short on money right now."

"Can't promise you anything Ruby, you're hanging out with _me_ remember?" the addressed woman, Nora, laughed, causing Ruby to groan even loader. Her orange hair reached just under her collarbone and, appearing to be similar in height to Ruby, she was wearing an outfit that consisted of a light pink long hoodie with an orange t-shirt underneath, blue leggings and purple white sneakers, "I may actually take advantage of the fact that you're paying for us today!"

"Friend Nora!" the other orange haired woman, Penny, exclaimed in shock. Standing at about equal heights as Nora, she was wearing an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings, "You should not take advantage of this situation. Friend Ruby already has enough financial problems without your help as it is."

"I was just kidding Penny. She knows I'm kidding, right?" Nora waved Penny's words off nonchalantly, deciding to turn to Ruby instead. The brunette's reply was an irritated but defeated groan, muffled by her sweater's sleeve as she was still hiding her face in it. Hearing Ruby's response, Nora chuckled nervously, "Right…"

"May I suggest turning on the radio to listen to some calming music?" Penny suggested, already making her way to the device before either woman could respond. Her question was responded to by a bored shrug from Nora and silence from Ruby, so the orange haired woman gladly turned the device on.

A few seconds of static…

 _"Now while most commentators will start off the match's commentaries with some sort of a 'bang!'…"_ an energetic female voice began, shocking both Penny and Nora. Her voice boomed through the radio so loud that Penny jumped up from her seat and hastily lowered the volume a few levels. At the same time, Nora was muttering curses under her breath as she watched Penny sit back down on her chair.

Ruby, on the other hand, only groaned loudly upon hearing the voice of the commentator, instantly recognizing it. She had effectively grown up hearing that voice on a daily basis, so even without listening to the rest of the commentator's introduction the brunette would still be able to tell who it was. Closing her eyes, the brunette prepared for the worst.

 _"I like to start my commentaries off… with a 'Yang'!"_ the commentator continued after a dramatic pause, quickly followed by several more groans. Without missing a beat, she continued her commentary, _"Goooooood morning everybody! My name is Yang Xiao Long and today I am here with my good friend Pyrrha Nikos! Pyrrha, say hello."_

 _"Hello everybody!"_ a cheerful voice picked up after the first woman. Upon fully processing what Yang had said and recognizing the voice of the second commentator, Nora's face lit up.

"That's Pyrrha!" the orange haired woman exclaimed, receiving nods of confirmation from the other two, "What is _she_ doing there?"

"She said something about trying out some new things, and Yang offered to show her the ropes of being a commentator," Ruby shrugged, recalling her sister's words a few days prior. Penny nodded in confirmation and quickly picked up where Ruby had left off.

"I have heard that news as well," Penny added with a nod, rubbing her ears from Yang's explosive voice, "It would appear that friend Ruby's sister Yang helped friend Pyrrha out to get the job. It would seem that she was hoping that friend Pyrrha would work with her."

"Well that's all nice and all, but we're wasting daylight over here!" Nora exclaimed impatiently, standing up so fast that her chair fell down. Pumping her fists in excitement, the orange haired woman continued, "Let's get going already!"

Without waiting for a reply, Nora grabbed her two friends by the wrists and forcefully dragged them out of the house, ignoring the sputtering and resistance that the two were giving in response.

* * *

"That was some match!" Yang exclaimed, stretching her arms and hearing the familiar cracking sounds as she walked out into broad daylight. The blonde, despite the cool breeze that struck their skin, was only wearing a short sleeved orange shirt and black pants. Grinning widely, Yang turned around to face the woman behind her, "You did great out there Pyrrha!"

"Thank you," Pyrrha responded, mumbling slightly as she played with her crimson red ponytail a bit. The red head was more conscious of the colder weather, as she was wearing an amber hoodie over a yellow shirt and dark pants. Rubbing her hands in an attempt to generate a little bit of heat for herself, Pyrrha smiled as she faced Yang, "It was an honor to do it with you."

"No need to be so formal, we're friends right?" Yang laughed, slinging an arm over her shoulder before gently guiding her through the streets, "Come on! I know a place that's just a few blocks down here and they got the best drinks! First round is on me!"

"You really don't have to…" Pyrrha trailed off, not wanting to look Yang in the eye. Yang, however, only laughed at Pyrrha's response.

"Nonsense!" the blonde waved her words off. With one hand gripping on to the red head's wrist and the other hand pumping the air in excitement, Yang cheerfully continued to drag her friend along with her, "This calls for a celebration so let's go!"

"Pyrrha! Yang!" a familiar voice behind the two women caused both of them to turn around.

Walking up to them was a young man with jet black hair that he had tied in a low ponytail. Some bangs in front was falling in front of his eyes slightly as well as framing his face. The hair on the back was almost long enough to reach all the way down his back. He wore a simple magenta long-sleeved shirt under a purple shirt and long pants. Like Pyrrha, he was wearing a hoodie to help keep the gusts of cool winds at bay, only his was green in color.

"Hiya Ren, long time no see!" Yang grinned upon recognizing the newcomer, "How have you been?"

"I have been doing fine, thank you for asking Yang," Ren smiled before his gaze turned serious, "Do you mind if I borrow Pyrrha for the day?"

"Huh? Why?" Yang was confused, her gaze shifting between the two of them before realization dawned upon her and a sly smirk formed on her lips, "I see where this going… why didn't you tell me you guys? Hm?"

"It's not like that!" Pyrrha exclaimed hastily, having caught on to what Yang was implying. As Ren sighed, the red head tried to continue, "Ren just asked for help on his project. I thought it could be fun so I offered my help."

"I see, working on a new project again are we?" Yang chuckled, directing the question at the raven haired male. Receiving a nod in response, the blonde grinned, "Well, don't let me hold you guys up! Good luck you two!"

"Thank you," Ren nodded in appreciation, forming a smile on the blonde's face.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha mumbled, turning to face Yang with an apologetic smile, "I didn't tell you beforehand. It would've been great to see Ruby again, too…"

"Don't worry about it!" Yang waved off Pyrrha's concerns before they could grow, "Besides, even if you were to come with me now she wouldn't be home anyway."

"She is with Nora and Penny, correct?" Ren asked suddenly, catching Yang off guard. When he saw the perplexed look on the blonde's face he shrugged, "Nora told me earlier."

"I see… well, either way, I still need to get some groceries before she comes home!" Yang finally said, Pyrrha and Ren nodding in understanding, "So I'll be seeing you two later!"

"Goodbye." Ren nodded with a smile, turning around and starting to walk off.

"Take care!" Pyrrha waved. About to turn around and follow Ren, the redhead apparently remembered something and shouted out to Yang again, "And tell Ruby that Ren and I said hi!"

"Will do!" Yang grinned. Glad to hear that, Pyrrha turned around and jogged a bit to catch up with Ren, soon falling into step with him.

Deciding that it was time for her to go back home again as well, Yang turned and headed started walking. A single thought made its way into her mind.

"But first thing's first! Food!"

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when Ruby, Nora and Penny found themselves downtown, ready to head back home. Having shopped to their heart's content, all of the women were holding several bags in their hands and had a content look on their faces.

"Hey will you look at that!" Ruby exclaimed in both surprise and delight, looking at her phone as she calculated the day's expenses. A bright grin was plastered on Ruby's face before she realized that Nora was trying to peek over her shoulder to see the screen. Ruby wrestled with Nora for a bit to get some free space and to distance her orange haired friend from her phone as much as possible before continuing, "We barely spent two-third of what we usually spent!"

"I _did_ say that I would be extra careful right?" Nora huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest as the three shopping bags that she was holding dangled dangerously in the air. Seeing the looks Ruby and Penny were giving her, Nora dropped her arms back to her sides and brought an expression of mock-shock on her face, "What? You didn't trust me? You didn't trust _me_? _Me_ of all people?"

"Well friend Nora, it is not like you to hold yourself back at all," Penny noted without missing a beat, causing the addressed woman to gasp.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Nora retorted in return, eyes containing a glint of anger as she turned to Penny.

It did not take long for the bickering between Nora and Penny to turn so loud that it started to grab the attention of several passersby, though neither seemed to notice. Ruby, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, shuffled a few steps away from her two friends.

Ruby tuned out the two women and focused on rotating the single rose in her fingers instead, glad to see that its thorns were removed. The petals were of a deep and beautiful shade of red, seeming bright and alive. Tracing the edges of the petals lightly with her thumb, she noted how lucky she was to get such a beautiful rose this time of year. This only helped to further brighten up her mood.

Ruby was brought out of her daydreaming by a gentle shake of the shoulder, causing the brunette to look up in shock.

"Wha?! I'm awake!"

"Ruby, are you feeling alright?" Nora asked, concern suddenly filling her voice. A similar concern could be seen in Penny's eyes as she eyed Ruby critically.

"Yes friend Ruby, could it be that you participated in too much high speed shopping?" Penny wondered out loud, glancing sideways accusingly at Nora to see her shuffle away a few feet.

"I'm fine you two, really," Ruby tried to assure the two with a smile, easing her friends' worries. Turning to leave, Ruby still focused her attention on her two friends as she waved goodbye, "I'll be going to see her before going home, though. I'll see you two around!"

"Alright if you say so, say hi for us alright?" Nora shrugged, looking at Ruby. Content at the nod from the brunette that she received in response, Nora turned on her heel to grab Penny's wrist, "Come on Penny, let's go!"

Surprised at the sudden action but not resisting in the slightest, Penny allowed Nora to drag her away once again. Before they rounded the corner, both women turned around to wave cheerfully at their friend one last time.

With a light giggle, Ruby watched her two friends run off together in the distance, glad that she had them. Sighing deeply, the brunette turned and walked down the block slowly as she slowly lost herself in her own thoughts. It wasn't until she reached a familiar looking building that she finally looked up.

Vale's General Hospital.

Without a moment of hesitation, the brunette walked inside through the glass doors where she was instantly greeted by a strong gust of cool air and a fragrance that reminded her strongly of lemongrass. The first thing that she noticed was that the hospital was almost deserted, which peaked her interest. It was visiting hours after all.

Shrugging her shoulders and attributing it to her coming in at just the right time, Ruby made her way to the elevators in the back. To her surprise, she saw one of the elevator doors close the moment she turned the corner.

"Hold the elevator!" Ruby shouted, her voice sounding unnaturally loud in the otherwise quiet area. Whoever was inside the elevator heard Ruby's cry and held the doors open, allowing the brunette to barrel inside, almost slamming into the back. Panting slightly at her short sprint, Ruby turned to the other person and smiled, "Thank you!"

The person who held the door open for her was a woman who looked about Ruby's age, her flowing black hair reaching well under her waist and wrapped itself around her white strapless dress. She didn't move or otherwise even acknowledged Ruby's presence, her pale green eyes instead focused on the papers that she was holding in her arms.

A heavy silence, that was only broken by the occasional sound of paper being flipped over by the silent woman, fell in the small area of the elevator. Ruby was about to open her mouth to break the silence again when the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened again with a ding. Realizing that this was her floor, Ruby slipped out quickly without another word. Taking a quick glance back, she noticed how the mysterious woman still had her gaze locked on her papers.

"Some people…" Ruby huffed as soon as the doors of the elevator had closed. With her right hand in her pocket and her left hand tightening its grip on the rose's stem slightly, the brunette made her way down the corridor that she had traversed countless of times before. The lighting was dim and, since she already knew where she had to go, Ruby felt herself zone out as she let her feet carry her to her destination.

Before she knew it, Ruby found herself in front of a familiar looking door, taking shaky breaths to try and calm herself down. Unlike all the other doors on the floor, this one had a light bulb implanted in it which was currently shining a deep and dark red light. The light bulb was what helped Ruby remember which door she needed to be. That, and the nameplate that was located a bit under the light bulb.

She looked down at herself and gasped at how ruffled up her clothes were. Hastily smoothening her clothes out of wrinkles and holding the rose tightly in her hand behind her back, Ruby finally decided that she would be as ready as she'll ever be. Taking a deep breath, the brunette raised her clenched hand and knocked thrice.

"It's me, Ruby, may I come in?" Ruby asked, leaning forward to the door to try and make her voice audible on the other side. After a few seconds of waiting, the light bulb changed from emanating a deep and dark red light and radiated a bright green one instead. Seeing the change in color, Ruby smiled before gently pushing the door open.

Ruby found herself in a square room that couldn't be larger than twenty-five square meters, the reddish orange light of the sunset seeping in through the open windows and a relatively chill breeze cooled the room down a bit. The room's walls were of a perfect white, void of any signs of dirt, with lime green curtains framing the windows.

The television was on, displaying the highlights of the match Ruby assumed her sister was commentating on earlier that day. Before she could focus on seeing the details of the match, however, the TV screen turned black which brought Ruby back to reality, turning her gaze to the corner of the room.

Ruby's gaze fell on a lone bed that was occupied by a single woman, her empty eyes focused on the TV screen just moments ago. When she heard the door open, she turned off the TV and turned to face Ruby with a bright smile. A smile that was returned in kind by the brunette at the door.

"I'm back!" Ruby announced cheerfully, walking over to the bedridden woman with a spring in her step and sitting down on the chair that was conveniently placed by the bed's head. Fumbling slightly with the rose that she was holding behind her back, Ruby brought it into view fully after taking a deep breath, "I brought you this. I know how much you love flowers, so I brought this one over for you. I had to go through what felt like a million stores but I got lucky when I finally found this! What do you think?"

Upon seeing the woman's face light up at the sight of the rose, Ruby couldn't help but feel the corners of her lips curve up into a smile again. Feel like all that effort actually _meant_ something.

* * *

 **That would be all for now… I know it is shorter than an average chapter of mine, but I wanted to get a good feel for the story before going all out in terms of quantity. It should go without saying that I have a lot planned for this, but I'm trying to hold myself back from exhausting too much for now… even so, who knew writing Ren and Pyrrha was so difficult?**

 **As this is my first time delving into a multi-chaptered RWBY fanfic, please leave a review telling me what you thought and how I can improve, both types of reviews are _really_ appreciated (especially the latter)!**

 **With everything already having been said: until next time!**


	2. Frozen Tears

**Although I expected a big audience, I would never have expected exactly how fast this has received attention… nor did I expect how much… wow… thank you so much! A special thank you, of course, goes to LightZephyr, pikaree1, Roseflare, EternalPKK and DaPokemonMadster for reviewing last chapter; so thank you all!**

 **Something that should have been obvious but will be said anyway (and has been added in the previous chapter) is that this story has been planned and written with only knowledge up to the end of Volume 3 in mind. If you're reading this in the (distant) future and have, as a result, watched Volume 4 and beyond, you will likely see a few differences. Seeing as this is an AU, however, I hope it won't be _too_ big of an issue…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its related materials.**

* * *

Fumbling slightly with the rose that she was holding behind her back, Ruby brought it into view fully after taking a deep breath.

"I brought you this," Ruby said with a smile, gently opening the palm of the bedridden woman's hand and placing the rose's stem in it. After she made sure that her friend had a firm yet gentle hold on the rose, the brunette continued, "I know how much you love flowers, so I brought this one over for you. I had to go through what felt like a million stores but I got lucky when I finally found this! What do you think?"

Upon seeing the woman's face light up at the sight of the rose, Ruby couldn't help but feel the corners of her lips curve up into a smile again. Feel like all that effort actually _meant_ something.

And then Ruby was gasping for air as she was trapped in a spine-crushing hug that could rival her sister's by the bedridden woman.

After what felt like forever to the brunette, the other, slightly shorter woman released her grip on her visitor and sat up with a bright smile on her face. With both a tender and loving hold, the patient placed the rose in the vase by her nightstand before turning back fully to her visitor. Instead of opening her mouth to utter words, she began moving her hands.

 _"Thank you Ruby! But… you didn't_ have _to…"_

Fortunately for both women, Ruby understood sign language and, as a result, she had no problems understanding her friend's words. Despite being able to understand sign language, however, the brunette was not able to respond in kind, "Nonsense! I know how much you love them—"

Ruby's words were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door, catching both women off guard. After the bedridden woman pressed a button on her nightstand, the door opened shortly after and a nurse walked in. As the nurse made her way into the room slowly, Ruby's gaze lingered on the clipboard that was held in the nurse's right hand before shifting to her left hand, which held too many different instruments for Ruby to name and identify.

"Good afternoon Miss Neo, I'm here for your—" the nurse began, her eyes moving straight towards the bed in the corner of the room before coming to a stop on Ruby. Smiling, the nurse quickly turned to address the brunette, "Ah, Miss Ruby, good afternoon! What a pleasant surprise!"

"Good afternoon! You're here for Neo's regular checkup?" Ruby replied in kind with a huge smile of her own as the nurse nodded. Standing up from the chair she was sitting on, she motioned to the nurse for her to take the seat, "I will wait outside."

"Miss Ruby, please, it is fine for you to stay here. I promise that it will not take long and I am only here for a few things this time," the nurse tried to reason with the brunette, though Ruby was already waving it off before she could even finish her sentence.

"Neo already asked me to not be here when somebody is doing a checkup on her," Ruby replied with a shrug as she took her bags and moved them out of the way for the nurse. With a smile, the brunette added, "And if that is what Neo wants then I am fine with going out for a while."

Hearing this, Neo nodded in Ruby's direction, an appreciative smile on her face. The nurse only sighed in defeat, "Alright… as I said, this should not take long. Once I am done here, you will be the third to know."

"Thank you!" Ruby grinned and, with a cheerful wave in Neo's direction, stepped out of the room and into the hallway.

Once the brunette stepped out of the room, a new question popped into her mind. What should she do while waiting? Not wanting to be in the cold and damp corridor for another second, Ruby decided to wait in the little café downstairs. Once her mind was made up, it wasn't long until Ruby found herself in front of the elevator.

When the metal doors slid open with a light ding, the brunette stepped inside without a second thought. Pressing the button for the desired floor, Ruby leaned against the wall and hummed a happy tune as she waited to reach her floor.

Before the silver eyed girl knew it, the elevator had slowed down to a stop. Tapping her right foot impatiently, the doors appeared to slide open even slower than they did earlier.

After what felt like hours to the brunette, the doors finally opened fully.

"Finally, I thought they would _never_ open!" Ruby huffed angrily as she was about to step out of the elevator. Raising her head to try and find the right direction, the brunette felt her body freeze up. Before she could really process this thought, however, her entire train of thoughts came to a crashing halt as she found something barely half a meter in front of her.

Ruby's silver eyes met with light blue colored ones, the owner of the latter being a woman standing a little shorter than the brunette. The light blue eyed woman wore a bluish white dress that reached just above her knees under a jacket that was similarly colored bluish white on the outside and red on the inside. The jacket, Ruby noted in her state of daze, was contrasting starkly with the otherwise bluish white outfit of hers.

What stood out the most of her features was the woman's perfectly white hair. The woman's silk-like white hair was tied into a right ponytail and draped along her shoulder all the way down to her waist.

"Are you going to step out or not?"

Shaking her head quickly to regain her composure, Ruby stepped out with an embarrassed smile on her lips. Holding her hand on the door to prevent it from closing, the white haired woman stepped inside without another word in the brunette's direction before disappearing behind steel and metal.

"Wow… to think that people like her actually walked around in this place…" Ruby muttered to herself, still standing dumbfounded in front of the elevator. It wasn't until the clock chimed five times that the brunette remembered why she went down in the first place.

"Right! Café… café…" Ruby mumbled as she scanned the map of the floor near the elevator, eyes squinted slightly as she couldn't find it. It was exactly when she decided to ask for directions that she found it, "There! So… my second left eh? Alright!"

* * *

"So how did things go?" Ruby asked curiously, sipping her strawberry flavored tea as she eyed the other woman critically for any subtle changes in her body language.

 _"The usual…"_ Neo replied with an exasperated expression, munching on the muffin that Ruby had brought for her from the café, _"I'm beginning to wonder why they have to keep me here any longer if all the checkups are good…"_

"They may be good now, but who knows how long that will last?" Ruby countered, a bit louder than she had wanted. Seeing Neo's eyes widen at her outburst, the brunette quickly apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout… it's just—"

Ruby was interrupted when she felt a gentle and comforting touch on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Neo smiling brightly at her and, once the pink-and-brown haired woman knew that she had the brunette's attention, she removed her hand from Ruby's shoulder.

 _"I know Ruby, really,"_ Neo smiled, her eyes going a bit foggy before she smiled brightly once more, _"It's for the best, and I'll just have to keep up with it… for the both of us…"_

"It's just…" Ruby began, trembling slightly before taking several breaths to try and calm herself down again. The returning feeling of having Neo's hand on her shoulder again helped a lot to calm Ruby down enough to formulate a literate sentence, "Why does this have to happen to you? It's not fair!"

 _"I… don't know…"_ Neo admitted slowly, a sad smile forming on her lips as her hands conveyed her thoughts to the brunette, _"But I do know that this is what happened… and somehow… somehow I will just have to get through this! Are you… with me?"_

"What kind of question is that Neo?" Ruby exclaimed, face aghast as she stared at the pink-and-brown haired woman, trying to find a sign of her messing with her. When Ruby looked into Neo's differently colored eyes, however, the brunette knew that she was being serious. Taking in a deep breath, Ruby smiled as she gave her friend a real answer, "Of course I'm with you! All the way, no matter how long it takes!"

 _"Thank you,"_ Neo signed with a teary-eyed smile, something that was returned in kind by Ruby herself. After swallowing another mouthful of her muffin, Neo tapped Ruby's shoulder to grab her attention before signing again, _"So what have you been up to lately?"_

"It's always me talking about what I have done…" Ruby muttered, a hint of slight exhaustion and irritation evident in her voice, "Why don't you tell me what you have been doing for a change Neo? I feel bad for always hogging the conversation."

 _"Look around you Ruby…"_ Neo replied with a sigh, gesturing at the room that they were in. Despite it being a neat and well-kept hospital room, it was still a hospital room. Ruby chuckled in embarrassment as she remembers this, before Neo added with a forced smile, _"It's not like a lot of things are happening here… I cleaned the room a bit after your last visit and had several checkups, but that is really it. You're basically my main way to know of the real world…"_

"I'm sorry Neo!" Ruby cried out, hugging the pink-and-brown haired woman tightly, burying her face in the silky hair of her friend as she did so. As the brunette inhaled the fragrance of roses wafting from the smaller woman in her arms, Ruby could also feel the comforting and welcomed touch of Neo's fingers as she stroked her back gently. After a minute of sitting in that position, Ruby slowly let go of her hold on Neo, "I'm so—"

Ruby was stopped from uttering another word by a small hand covering her lips. With a small smile on her face and a shake of her head, Neo fingerspelled her response, _"Don't apologize. It's okay."_

Ruby nodded once, not being able to say anything as Neo was still covering her mouth. Satisfied with the nod, the hospital patient removed her hand from the brunette's mouth, allowing the latter to speak again, "So… you _want_ to listen to what I have done lately?"

This time it was Neo's turn to nod in response, assuring the brunette that she really did, in fact, want to listen to her. Taking a deep breath, Ruby began, "Everybody is doing fine; Yang is a well-recognized commentator by now."

 _"She doesn't just do commentaries right?"_ Neo signed curiously, an eyebrow raised as she recalled something that Ruby had said in the past.

"Nope, she doesn't," Ruby laughed, slightly surprised that Neo still remembered. Gulping down her now cooled down tea, the brunette continued, "It's just that her dojo is having a bit of a quiet time right now, low season and all… it could be a good thing, though, as this gives her a bit more time than usual to do her commentaries nowadays."

 _"That's nice,"_ Neo nodded, smiling at the sight of the spark in Ruby's eyes, _"You two still getting along fine?"_

"Oh yes, definitely! That is… except this morning…" Ruby muttered, trailing off as she looked away as the memory came back up again. Upon seeing the curious look on her friend's face, the brunette knew that she couldn't back out anymore. Ruby inhaled a shaky breath, mentally preparing herself for what was to come before softly revealing what happened, "Yang… threw a bucket of ice water on me…"

As soon as the words left Ruby's lips, even though they were uttered as softly as possible by the brunette in the hopes that they would be inaudible, Neo's body began to shake heavily. As Ruby watched the pink-and-brown haired woman laugh mutely, holding the sides of her stomach while doing so, the brunette could feel the smile falter at the lack of noise that Neo was making. Before Neo could see the shift in Ruby's mood, however, the visitor had successfully brought the smile back.

 _"That… was priceless!"_ Neo panted, slightly out of breath as she wiped the corner of her eyes. Taking a few deep breaths in an effort to regain her composure, it took a full minute before she could successfully sign anything again, _"Remind me to thank your sister~!"_

"Very funny…" Ruby pouted, earning a teasing wink from Neo as Ruby went up to get two glasses of water. Once she returned, she offered one of the two glasses to Neo, who accepted it gratefully, while taking a sip of her own, "So yeah… everything going fine with Yang."

 _"How about you?"_ Neo asked absentmindedly and seemingly distracted, not looking up from her glass. Ruby flinched slightly at the question and, unfortunately for the brunette, this did not go unnoticed by Neo. With a slight frown, Neo signed the question Ruby knew was coming, _"You're still blaming yourself for it… aren't you…?"_

"Of course I am!" Ruby exclaimed suddenly, shocking Neo. More than her friend snapping like that, what shocked Neo the most was how easily Ruby admitted. Ruby's words left Neo speechless and, seeing this, the brunette let loose the river of emotions that she had been holding in, "I know what you're going to say and I don't care! I know I could've done something! I know I could've been a better friend and helped you! I should have been a better friend, but I… I wasn't! And look where it got us! You're stuck here because of… because of—"

The dam broke broke once more and, as she let out the words that were weighing her down, Ruby didn't realize that she was trembling. She didn't even realize the dampness of her cheeks until she opened her silver colored eyes, feeling the tears roll down her face. Something had caused her to stop, and it took her a few seconds to fully realize what it was.

Neo had wrapped her arms around the brunette's frame, holding the woman tight enough to be comforting but loose enough as to not suffocate her. This worked in calming Ruby down, the brunette blinking a few times in surprise at Neo's sudden action.

It didn't take long for the tears to come again, however.

"I'm sorry Neo!" Ruby cried out, burying her face in Neo's shoulder as she tightened her hold on the pink-and-brown haired woman. As the tears fell from the brunette's face and drenched Neo's shirt, Neo tried to soothingly rub Ruby's back, trying her hardest to comfort the brunette. It didn't seem to do much, however, as Ruby continued to shake violently, "I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry!"

Neo didn't bat an eye as Ruby's tears completely soaked her shirt. She didn't even appear to mind the fact that her ribs and back were screaming at her. All that mattered to her right then and there was the woman in her arms, and she did everything she could to give Ruby the comfort she knew the brunette so desperately needed.

"I… I… I'm… s…s…so…o…o…rry…" Ruby breathed out in between sobs. About half an hour had passed since she broke down and she was still where she was, still trembling as she clung onto Neo as if she were her lifeline. Neo closed her eyes, allowing a small smile to grace her lips as she could tell that the brunette was slowly but surely regaining herself.

Another fifteen minutes passed before, to Neo's relief, Ruby's breathing and sobs began to calm down, only leaving a wet and whimpering mess in Neo's arms. Throughout all of it, Neo remained still and unmoving. Unmoving apart from her hands, which the pink-and-brown haired woman used to gently stroke Ruby's back, visibly contributing greatly in helping the brunette calm down.

After another ten minutes, Ruby finally released her hold on Neo to look up at said girl, the tears and mucus still clearly evident on the former's face. Before the brunette could open her mouth, however, Neo had leaned forward with several tissues in hand to gingerly clean Ruby's face.

Once done, Neo threw the used tissues in the open trash can by her bed before turning back to Ruby. With a smile, Neo signed the words she felt she had been signing a lot already, _"It's fine, Ruby, really…"_

"Okay…" Ruby sniffled softly, gratefully accepting the glass of water that Neo offered her and slowly drinking its contents.

 _"So apart from blaming yourself for what happened to me…"_ Neo began, eyeing Ruby with a critical eye to see her response. The brunette, to Neo's credit, managed to stay calm, despite flinching slightly. With a smile, Neo continued, _"What else have you been doing?"_

"Nothing much, really…" Ruby finally managed after a while, slowly lowering the glass from her lips and placing it on Neo's nightstand, "I haven't done anything out of the ordinary… just stayed at home, sometimes going out with Yang or Nora and Penny, but that is it, really."

 _"Good to know that they're all doing well,"_ Neo smiled, taking a sip of water herself. She was about to sign again but was interrupted by a buzzing sound; a sound that caught both girls off guard. With an embarrassed smile on her face, Ruby took out her phone from her pocket and frowned slightly as her eyes darted around the screen. While this didn't go unnoticed by Neo, she waited patiently until Ruby had pocketed her phone back in her pocket and focused her attention back on her before asking the question, _"Who was that?"_

"Yang. She's telling me to go home" Ruby muttered sadly, getting up and collecting her things from below the windowsill. With a watery smile, the brunette turned back to Neo, "I'm afraid I have to go…"

 _"That's alright Ruby,"_ Neo smiled, causing said girl to frown slightly. Realizing what was bothering the brunette, Neo quickly added, _"I mean, don't get me wrong. I love it when you're here visiting, but if you go now it gives you a better reason to come back again soon."_

"You're right!" Ruby exclaimed, realizing that Neo was right. As her frown was quick to make way for a bright smile, Ruby embraced Neo; a gesture that was returned in kind by the pink-and-brown haired woman. After a minute or so, Ruby let go, "Until next time then!"

 _"Until next time!"_

* * *

Sighing softly, Ruby grabbed the doorknob tightly, though something was stopping her from opening it. After contemplating whether or not she wanted to enter, the brunette made up her mind, opened the door and stepped inside.

Once inside, Ruby was greeted by the sound of two people talking, both voices being distinguishably female, as well as the welcoming and familiar scent of Yang's cooking. Letting her nose guide her, the next thing that Ruby knew was that she found herself in the dining room.

The last bit of orange rays of the setting sun broke through the closed curtains, but did little to illuminate the room enough on its own. As a result, the lamps were already turned on, enveloping the room in a similar colored, albeit artificial, light as the sun's.

On Ruby's right was the dining table, fully set with the food still steaming slightly, the sight and smell enough to make her mouth water. Ruby smiled, glad to know that she was still on time for dinner. Not seeing Yang anywhere in the room, the brunette was about to try her luck in the living room when the door to that very room opened and two women walked out.

"Hey Rubes, about time you got back home!" Yang exclaimed cheerfully, wasting no time to ruffle her little sister's hair. Once satisfied, the blonde slung an arm around her sister's shoulder, grabbed the wrist of the woman who followed her and guided both into the room, "Now that you're _finally_ back, we can eat! Let's chow down, I made your favorite!"

"Really?" Ruby's face lit up almost instantly upon hearing her sister's words, scanning Yang's face for any hints of it being a joke. Once she realized that the blonde was, in fact, telling the truth, the brunette wasted no time in jumping at her in a hug, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Well then, we better get going and eat it while it is still warm," Yang said with a smile and a light chuckle, gently guiding her ecstatic younger sister to the dining room. It only took the blonde three steps to realize that the other, raven haired woman wasn't following, "Blake? Are you coming?"

"Thanks for the offer Yang, but I think I will pass for now," the raven haired, Blake, muttered in response with a small smile evident on her features. After having looked away for a while, Blake turned her attention back to the two sisters and added, "This should be bonding time between you two; I don't want to intrude—"

"You're not intruding at all Blake!" Ruby added hastily, waving her arms in panic as she tried to help persuade said woman to stay, "We _want_ you to stay a bit longer!"

"Thanks Ruby, but I really can't…" Blake tried again, an apologetic smile gracing her lips as she turned to the younger brunette, "I was only here to return a book I borrowed anyway. Maybe next time?"

"I'll hold you to that!" Yang smirked, earning a single nod in response from Blake, "Alright… take care Blake."

"Of course…" Blake's reply was almost inaudible, though the smile was a sure-sign as to what she had said. Not wasting another second, Blake gathered her things, waved to the two sisters and left the house.

The silence that followed was a prolonged one, one that neither Ruby nor Yang knew how to break. Eventually, it was Yang who got the conversation started again by clearing her throat.

"Sooo…" Yang trailed off as the two sisters moved to sit down at the dining table. As Ruby looked at her from the opposite side of the table, clearly waiting for Yang to continue, the blonde did exactly that, "How was your day?"

"It was alright," Ruby replied with a shrug as she focused on pouring water into her sister's glass before filling her own, "I went shopping with Nora and Penny before visiting Neo."

"Seems like a nice day indeed," Yang chuckled, having started to pile up food on their plates, "How is she, anyway?"

"She said she's been doing fine," Ruby began, receiving a full plate with a grateful smile before adding, "She also looked like she was doing a lot better… even so…"

"You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened Rubes," Yang interjected gently, her tone being both gentle as well as stern, "What happened has happened, and it isn't your fault. You should focus on being there for her, supporting and helping her all the way."

"Funny, that's exactly what Neo said as well," Ruby admitted with a laugh, recalling the pink-and-brown haired woman's conveyed words from earlier that day. Letting out the breath that the brunette didn't know she was holding, she grinned, "I know I have to do it."

"That's the Ruby I know!" Yang laughed before motioning the plate in front of the brunette, "But you can't do anything on an empty stomach so dig in!"

* * *

 **That is all for now; hope you guys liked it! As always, reviews are highly appreciated!**

 **I know that this is _supposed_ to be White Rose-focused, but Strawberry Ice Cream is kind of really adorable as well… hm… On a related note, how old do you guys think Neo actually is (in canon)? Yes, that's a serious question that I will have in the back of my mind until her age is officially confirmed… Either way, a crying Ruby is a hard-to-depict Ruby… hope I didn't mess her up _too_ much…**

 **Until next time everybody! Take care!**


	3. Bonding Time

**Yup… _definitely_ shocked at how much attention this has gotten… especially when compared to my other stories… this one is my story with the most follows; and that after only two chapters! Thank you so very much, all of you!**

 **Special thanks to Roseflare, pikaree1, Guest and EternalPKK for reviewing the previous chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

* * *

It was already well into the day when the figure under the sheets started to stir, suggesting that the sleeping person hiding beneath it was slowly waking up. Sure enough, a bundle of messy, reddish black hair popped out of the covers as the young woman yawned and stretched, the distinct popping sound of bones resounding through the room.

It was at this hour that Ruby was slowly waking up, her silver eyes drifting off to the multiple stacks of paper on her desk that she had left there the night before. With another small yawn, the brunette stepped out of bed and waltzed over to the bathroom to freshen herself up.

Twenty minutes later, the young brunette walked into the living room as she dried off her hair with a fuzzy towel, content to start the day at a relatively slow pace. Not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary, Ruby was pleasantly surprised to see the wild mane of blond hair draped over the sofa's back.

"Yang?" Ruby asked hesitantly, almost in disbelief at what she was seeing. Her thoughts were confirmed when a figure stirred and her sister rose up from the sofa.

"Ruby!"

Despite the fact that she was visibly exhausted, Yang was quick to trap her little sister in a tight hug, "It's about time you woke up! Hurry up and get something to eat, we're going out!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" the trapped Ruby managed to utter, desperately trying to push the stronger woman off of her. To say that the brunette was shocked to hear Yang's words was an understatement, which she wasted no time in voicing, "Aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"

"You must've stayed up later than usual, didn't you?" Yang responded Ruby's question with one of her one, complete with a knowing yet serious look in her eyes. Despite having asked a question, the elder sibling already knew the answer from the shift in the brunette's demeanor and, with a sigh, added offhandedly, "Seems like you need big sis to take care of you after all…"

"T-That's not the point!" Ruby quickly countered, but knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Instead, the brunette decided to change the subject again, "That aside, you haven't answered my question yet: what did you mean with "we're going out"? Don't you have to be at work today?"

"Check the calendar," Yang replied, tossing the object in question at her sister as she walked over towards the fridge and took out two cans of juice, "It's a Tuesday."

"Oh…" Ruby stared at the calendar in her hands, realizing her sister was right. Tuesday was an off day for Yang, which meant that she was probably going to be dragged around all day. Before the brunette knew it, she was already deep in thoughts as to what the day would become.

"Heads up!"

Shocked out of her train of thoughts, Ruby turned in the direction of the voice to see the metal can flying her way a few seconds before it reached her. Fumbling slightly with the cold metal object, Ruby had it opened a second later and, upon realizing just how thirsty she was, wasted no time in gulping down over half of its content in one go.

"Nice catch!" Yang grinned before following her sister's example and taking a few gulps from her own.

"Thanks…" was the muttered reply as Ruby lost herself in the ripples of her drink's surface. With a small gulp to prepare herself for the worst, Ruby turned around to face her sister, "So where are we going?"

"Hm?" Yang looked up from her can, clearly being distracted herself. After Ruby had repeated her question once more, Yang only grinned, "You'll find out soon enough Rubes, just hurry up and meet me outside in ten!"

And without saying another word, the older of two left the room at a relaxed pace. This left a stunned and more than a little confused Ruby behind.

"Now where would Yang bring me this time that it is so important to keep it a secret?" Ruby muttered to herself as she took another sip of her juice. Normally, Yang would announce where she was dragging her that Tuesday, so this change in routine had caught the young brunette off guard. Shrugging, Ruby finished her drink, made a small detour to throw the towel in the washing machine and walked back to her room to get ready.

She would find out where she was going soon enough.

* * *

"Won't you _please_ tell me where we're going now?" Ruby whined as she obediently followed her older sister down a road that the brunette did not recognize. Thirty minutes had already passed since the two left their home but, considering the brisk pace at which Yang was still walking in, they were still far from their destination. Tugging at the sleeve of her sister's shirt, Ruby tried once more, "Come on, would it really be so bad if I knew?"

"For the millionth time, Rubes, you'll see where we're going once we're there," Yang's reply has been the same each time the question was thrown her way to the point that the blonde had seriously considered recording her reply for future purposes. To the blonde's credit, however, she had remained silent rather than giving in to her sister's pleas. With a sigh more for releasing frustration than anything else, Yang added, "We're not far from it anymore so you will find out soon."

Upon hearing this, Ruby fell silent almost immediately and Yang, despite facing a different direction, visibly relaxed at this. The blissful seconds of peace and quiet, however, did not last.

"Yang!"

"For the last time Ruby—"

"It's not that!" Ruby quickly said, interrupting her sister's sentence. This, coupled with the fact that she _wasn't_ asking another dreaded question, piqued Yang's interest. Turning around, she saw the brunette pointing at something across the street, "Isn't that Blake?"

"Huh?" Yang spun on her heel to look in the direction her sister was pointing at to see a familiar black bow behind the black cover of a book the blonde recognized all too well sitting at an outdoor café. With a grin, Yang grabbed Ruby by the wrist and started to drag her across the street, "Change of plans!"

"H-Hey! Yang! Where are you going?" Ruby only had time to yelp in surprise as she was effortlessly dragged by her sister. Knowing better than to resist, the brunette tried desperately to match Yang's pace step for step to prevent herself from tripping.

"Helloooo!" Yang sang the moment the two sisters were within hearing distance. The person reading the book, however, did not seem to even acknowledge the blonde; which only caused Yang to push even harder, "Fancy meeting you here, huh Blake?"

"Uh… Yang?" Ruby asked almost hesitantly, poking Yang's back slightly to grab her attention.

"Not now Rubes, I need to get Blake to return my greeting," Yang muttered, her back turned to her sister as her brow was furrowed in concentration, "I mean, what are the chances of us meeting at a place like this?"

"Yang…?" Ruby tried once again, though she was completely ignored.

"Just let her be and we'll see how long it takes for her to figure it out…"

Yang froze abruptly the moment she fully processed what she had heard, recognizing the newcomer's voice. It was the second, new voice that made the blonde slowly turn her head around to see someone standing beside her sister with a smug smirk on her lips.

"B-B-Blake?" Yang sputtered in disbelief, her eyes widening as she recognized just who was standing by Ruby's side. Turning her gaze between Blake and the book behind her multiple times, Yang quickly found herself at a loss for words, "How did—? Where'd you—? When have you—? Why would—? Who is—?"

"Isn't it nice that we're all able to make clear and coherent sentences?" Blake smirked as she walked up to the book and stored both it and the bow laying above what appeared to be a mannequin in her bag. With a smug smile, the black haired woman added, "As for why… I had to run and grab something from the store a few blocks down. I thought leaving something here to make you recognize this place would be a good idea."

"You're… not wrong…" Yang finally admitted with a sigh of defeat. This only caused Blake's smile to widen.

"Aren't you scared that someone could've easily grabbed your belongings while you were gone?" Ruby asked, recalling just how possessive her black haired friend could be of her stuff.

"Not much, I'm good friends with the owner of this place so all I had to do was ask for a little favor," Blake shrugged, throwing her bag over the shoulder before eyeing the defeated blonde who was slumped down in the chair, "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked, hoping that Blake would be more willing to answer her question than her sister has been.

"Yang hasn't told you?" Blake asked, an undertone of genuine shock evident in her voice as she turned to the brunette.

"No she hasn't," Ruby pouted, sending a glare in her sister's direction while doing so, "She has been dragging me all over the place, telling me that we would get somewhere big but refused to even give a hint as to where we were going!"

"Good," Blake muttered with a smile as she pulled Yang back on her feet. Seeing the crestfallen look on Ruby's face, Blake hid a snicker and added, "I wasn't sure whether Yang would be able to keep it from you—"

"Why don't you have any faith in me?" Yang whined, interrupting Blake's sentence, "When have I ever let you down?"

"I have two lists, alphabetical and chronological, which do you want?" Blake asked with a straight face as she began rummaging through her bag.

"Never mind…"

"Anyway, I'm afraid that you're just going to have to stay in the dark for a little while longer Ruby," Blake added, turning to said brunette with an apologetic smile. Blake knew almost as well as Yang just how much Ruby hated waiting, so Blake relented, "We're only another ten minutes away."

"Alright! What are we waiting for?" Ruby cheered as she jumped to her feet, a bright grin on her face as this little bit of information visibly rejuvenated her. Her eagerness must have been infectious as Blake and even Yang couldn't help a smile of their own from forming, "Let's go!"

* * *

"This… is where we were going?"

"Yup."

Eleven minutes later, the three women were standing in front of the largest building in the area, easily towering at least five floors above any other building near it. As Blake and Yang were glad to have made it in relatively decent time, Ruby was still shocked speechless.

"Come on, we're wasting daylight Rubes!" Yang laughed, seeing the look on her sister's face before she gently but firmly pushed her inside, "It's not exactly Eleventh Mist that we wanted to show you but a new store that opened up recently!"

"And I'm guessing neither of you will tell me what that place is until we get there, huh?" Ruby asked dejectedly, fearing the answer that she knew was coming. True enough, both Blake and Yang nodded in response. With a sigh, and in an effort to distract herself, Ruby wondered out loud, "Why did they call this mall "Eleventh Mist" anyway?"

"No clue," Yang shrugged, still focused on guiding Ruby to their destination without being too forceful. Turning to Blake, the blonde asked, "Do you know?"

"I heard their manager opened up a branch in a faraway city several years ago, named "Seventh Mist", so I guess they thought it would be a good idea to continue with that naming trend," Blake replied after a second of thought. Ruby and Yang, accepting this explanation, nodded contently before Blake resumed talking, "But that's beside the point. We're still a few floors away from our destination, after all."

"Right, let's get going!" Yang agreed cheerfully, taking a few strides to walk besides Blake as the two of them walked on ahead.

While the two older women made their way to the escalators, Ruby found herself looking around the many stores on the floor. Even though Eleventh Mist exploded in popularity the moment the doors were first opened, the young brunette only found herself within its walls a handful of times.

The floors were systematically arranged so that each floor was dedicated to a certain theme. As the theme of the floor that Ruby was on was sports, the floor was filled with stores selling goods that ranged from sport gear to pro league team merchandise to courses for those wanting to start out with the sport.

"Rubes! Are you coming or what?" Yang's loud call shook Ruby back to reality, which was what shocked her the most as she never even realized that she was spacing out to begin with.

"Coming!" Ruby replied almost sheepishly as she started a jog to catch up with Yang and Blake. Before she took a step, however, she caught a glimpse of a white flash from the corner of her eye that instantly caused her to stop and turn in the direction of the flash.

Standing there was a woman with long, flowing white hair that, tied into a right ponytail, draped all the way down to her waist. Wearing a bluish white dress that reached just above her knees under a jacket that was similarly colored bluish white on the outside and red on the inside, Ruby could only wonder whether she was whiter or the walls of the buildings. It was then when silver orbs met blue ones…

And then realization dawned upon her.

"Ruby?" Yang's gentle touch caused said woman to jump in surprise, not having heard her sister reaching them. With a concerned look on her face, Yang turned to Ruby, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Y-Yeah…" Ruby panted, a hand on her chest as she tried her best to calm down, "You just caught me off guard is all."

"So…" Yang trailed as she turned to look between the white haired woman and her sister, completely ignoring the fact that Ruby was having difficulties breathing, "Friend of yours?"

"Not exactly," Ruby sighed, recalling their previous encounter and knowing that she couldn't hope to call the mysterious white haired woman her friend already, "I met her the other day when I visited Neo. I don't even know her name."

"Well here's your chance already!" Yang said as she wasted no time to close the distance between the two. Bending over so that her mouth was beside her sister's ear, Yang quietly added, "Introduce yourself!"

"R-Right…" Ruby said half-heartedly, almost wishing that she could have made up a real excuse. With a gulp and several sharp intakes of breath, the brunette turned to the seemingly uninterested white haired woman. Holding out her hand, she began, "H-Hello, I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you."

Rather than respond to Ruby's words or even accept the brunette's outstretched hand, the woman only stared at Ruby's face critically. Shifting slightly under the intense gaze, Ruby held her position firmly, unwilling to give in.

Finally, the white haired woman showed some form of reaction, though it was in a form that neither Ruby nor Yang had expected it to be.

The woman's eyes widened slightly, almost as if in recognition, before narrowing dangerously. In a soft voice, she muttered, "Belladonna…"

"Eh?" Ruby was more than a little caught off guard and, taking a quick glance at her sister, the same could be said for Yang, ""Belladonna"? Isn't that—?"

"Schnee…" a familiar voice muttered in just as soft of a voice behind Ruby and Yang. Both women turned around to see Blake eyeing the mysterious woman, the normally warm and kind amber orbs were now a surprising cold and hard stare, "That is no way to speak to my friends."

"Your… friends…?" the woman arched an eyebrow in surprise, "I see… so these two are…"

"That's right. These are my friends, Yang and her younger sister Ruby," Blake continued, pointing to the respective people as she introduced her friends. Turning to face both Yang and Ruby, the black haired woman continued, "Yang, Ruby… this is an old, lacking a better word, friend of mine, Schnee."

"I have a first name, you know," Schnee added in an annoyed tone, "It's Weiss."

"I know, that's the problem…" Blake sighed, the last part muttered softly enough so that nobody could hear her, before turning to Weiss, "So what brings you up here?"

"An order of mine arrived, the delivery team of the store had problems so they requested my presence at the store to get my order myself," Weiss replied before glancing at her watch, "I would really love to stay and chat—"

"Of course you would…"

"But I'm afraid I have to get going," Weiss finished, seemingly unfazed at Blake's comment as she grabbed her purse, "Hopefully we can meet under better circumstances another day."

"Eh… s…ure…?" Ruby could only stare wide eyed as Weiss walked off into the distance at a brisk pace.

"Nice friend you got there Blake," Yang said the moment the blonde knew that said friend was out of earshot. Hearing this, Blake couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"She _can_ be quite the handful, but she's nice if you get to know her better," Blake's response was a much calmer and nicer one than either of the sisters had expected it to be. Blake, either not realizing this or choosing not to comment on it all together, turned to Ruby, "So how about we get to that place already?"

* * *

"Impressive, huh?" Yang laughed, unable to keep the grin from forming as she watched her sister's eyes light up in excitement and amazement, "So… what'll it be, Rubes?"

Yang, Blake and Ruby had finally made it to their destination, and while Ruby was upset that neither Yang nor Blake would tell her where they were actually going, a part of her was glad that it was a surprise now that she was actually here.

Standing before the pastry shop Pasticceria Manicagni, Ruby's eyes were a blur as she eyed one item after another. Clearly, the brunette had difficulties choosing any one of them.

"I'll go save us a seat," Blake announced, quick to pick up on Ruby's indecisiveness. Before she left, however, she turned to Yang, "Can you get one of those cheesecakes for me when you're at the register?"

"Sure but, taking a look at things, that might still take a while," Yang laughed, nodding in Ruby's direction as she was still deciding on her choice. Shrugging, Blake walked off to find a good spot as the blonde turned to her sister again, "Come on Rubes, how difficult is it to—"

"I'm going for the strawberry crostata!" Ruby announced boldly with fists pumped into the air, surprising not just Yang but several passersby as well. After a second or two, the brunette turned to her sister with somewhat of a sheepish grin, "Assuming I _may_ have the strawberry crostata, of course."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Yang laughed, ruffling Ruby's short hair affectionately before turning to the cashier and placing their orders. While waiting, the blonde asked, "What made you choose the crostata?"

"Well, it was either that or the montebianco," Ruby shrugged, taking a quick glance at said pastry on display before nodding contently at the sight of her crostata, "I dunno Yang… I just felt like having the crostata more than the montebianca is all."

"Works for me," Yang shrugged, accepting two of the three pastries as Ruby took her own, turned around and scanned the seats, "Do you see Blake anywhere?"

"She's right over there," Ruby pointed at a familiar black bow sticking up from behind one of the chairs near the window.

"It better not be another one of those mannequin shenanigans…" Yang grumbled angrily, clearly still remembering the events that occurred earlier that day, as she, with Ruby following close behind, walked in the direction the brunette pointed in. The two soon found out that it was, in fact, not another one of those mannequin substitutes. With a sigh of relief, Yang plopped down on one of the chairs as Ruby followed suit soon after.

"So what do you think Ruby? You like it?" Blake asked after Ruby had just taken her first spoonful of the crostata. The black haired woman didn't need a verbal reply as the look on Ruby's face was answer enough, "I'll take that as a "yes" then."

"I _love_ it!" Ruby exclaimed giddily, quickly taking another spoonful of her treat as she eyed both of her companions with an almost accusatory look, "Why didn't you take me here sooner?"

"We wish we could Rubes, but it only opened up last week," Yang replied with an apologetic smile, "We went here on Sunday to test it out, trying to see if it was worth dragging you all the way here. From the looks of it, it was."

Nodding vigorously, Ruby wasted no time in digging into the treat in front of her. With a smile on her face after seeing this, Yang turned to Blake.

"So…" Yang began, not knowing how to start it off. Blake, about to take a bite of her cheesecake, slowly lowered her hand as she realized that Yang wanted to ask her something, "That Weiss girl… what's she like?"

"She's… a perfectionist…" Blake began, trying to choose her words as carefully as possible to describe her friend, "Not only by nature but also because she has no other choice."

"No other choice?" Yang repeated, hanging on to Blake's every word, "What do you mean? How can she _not_ have a choice regarding what she wants to be?"

"She's… the heiress to the Schnee Corporation," Blake answered slowly, with Yang nodding in understanding, "According to Weiss, she has been under the watchful eyes of her parents her entire life. This didn't allow her a lot of breathing space, unfortunately, so she is very strict regarding the rules. Especially to herself."

"Still, she could at least be a bit nicer to us if we're the friends of her friend," Yang huffed before finally taking a spoonful of her treat of choice herself.

"Take it from me, that's actually nicer and more open than she usually is with strangers," Blake sighed, her eyes blurring slightly as she remembered time's long past. With a light chuckle, she continued, "She's really a nice person once you get her to open up to you. We didn't really see eye to eye at first, but now… I'm confident enough to say that we're at least more than acquaintances now."

"Well, Yang, Blake, it was very nice spending time with you two today and I really appreciate you treating me here," Ruby began as she stood up and took her empty plate, "But I have to go."

"What? Already?" Yang gasped in shock, surprised at her sister's sudden announcement, "But we just got here."

"I know Yang… and I'm sorry…" Ruby allowed a small, sad smile to adorn her face before continuing, "But I promised Neo that I would visit her more often, and if I don't hurry I can only stop by to say "hello"."

"I see…" Yang trailed off in a deflated tone, but managed to quickly recover a smile, "Say hi to her for us, alright?"

"Sure will!" Ruby smiled, grabbed her things and was about to leave but turned to face the two still seated women first, "Bye! And, again, thank you!"

"Watch yourself out there Rubes!" Yang called out, but was uncertain whether or not her sister had heard her. With an exasperated sigh, the blonde slumped down in her chair and muttered, "Well _that_ could have gone better…"

"Perhaps, but you did what you could Yang," Blake responded, wiping off a few crumps with a napkin before continuing in a gentle tone, "She has, no… still is going through some hard times right now. I know it is difficult, but she has her own way of taking care of this. All you can do is just be yourself and make sure you're there for her if and when she needs you."

"I knoooow… but I just wish I could do more, you know?" Yang whined, dropping her head on her arms. This, however, prevented the blonde from seeing her friend's nod. After a few seconds of silence, Yang added, "It's just… strange… Ruby is growing up faster and faster, and while I'm proud of her, I also just want to hug and protect her from what's out there. Time… just flies by so fast…"

"It sure does…" Blake sighed, looking out the window to see the fluffy white clouds scattered across the clear blue sky.

Both women would stay in their seats for a long time.

* * *

 **That wraps up this chapter… some more insight on the characters as well as a bit of interactions and buildup, which I know some of you may not like, but I guarantee you that the plot will start to thicken starting next chapter!**

 **Also, I'm sorry for all the references in this chapter… So** **… second disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.**

 **Until that chapter comes up, take care everybody!**


	4. A Fateful Encounter

**Picking up right back where we left off last time! Before we start, however, a special thank you to Roseflare, pikaree1 and DaPokemonMadster for reviewing last chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or anything related to the franchise.**

* * *

After leaving Blake and her sister, Ruby had rushed off in a sprint towards the hospital. With her sights set on where she was running to, the brunette did not do a very good job at keeping a good eye on her surroundings…

"Oof!" Ruby breathed out as she fell flat on the ground, "What was that…?"

"Hey Ruby," a familiar yet pained voice greeted from beside Ruby. At recognizing the voice, Ruby's eyes widened, "Are you alright?"

"Jaune! I'm so sorry!" Ruby quickly got back on her feet before extending a helping hand to Jaune; a helping hand that the boy gladly accepted, "What are you doing out here?"

"I have to meet with my new boss… he is supposed to be working around here somewhere…" Jaune murmured, trailing off as he looked around him in slight confusion. Seeing this, the brunette's expression changed almost instantly.

"You're lost, aren't you?" Ruby deadpanned in response, stifling a giggle as she saw Jaune flinch.

"No! How could you think I— yes… I am…" Jaune finally admitted after seeing the look on Ruby's face. Trying to avoid the lecture that he knew was coming, the sweating boy raked his brain frantically for a change of subject, "What about you? How have you been? It's been so long!"

"It sure has!" Ruby smiled, reminiscing her prized memories before realizing that she was wasting time, "I love to stay and chat, Jaune, but I'm in a hurry. I'll catch you around another time, alright? Bye!"

And with that, Ruby ran off again in the direction of the hospital before Jaune could even move.

"That Ruby… she never changes…" Jaune smiled as he watched his friend run. The smile changed into a look of worry and concern as Jaune resumed walking himself, "Now where is it…?"

* * *

"Hi Neo! It's me, Ruby!" Ruby called in front of the hospital room, knocking rapidly in an effort to be heard. Much to her pleasure, the door clicked open and Ruby walked in, "Hi!"

 _"Back again?"_ Neo signed with an unamused expression on her face the moment that Ruby walked in, _"You were only here yesterday, remember?"_

"So I'm not allowed to visit you everyday?" Ruby pouted, playing along with Neo as she slowly shuffled away from the mute girl, "If that's the case I'll be on my way again and—"

 _"You know that wasn't what I meant, Ruby!"_ Neo interrupted her friend, both frantically and with a hint of displeasure in her gestures. With a look on her face that hinted at embarrassment, the mute added, _"It's just that I'm not used to having you visit everyday… It's nice."_

"Well, you better get used to it because I will be visiting you everyday from now on!" Ruby beamed, closing the door behind her and plopping on the chair beside Neo's bed, "So… any news on your condition?"

 _"You know it has only been one day right?"_ Neo deadpanned before quickly adding after seeing the look on Ruby's face, _"Nothing new… I suppose that's to be expected, after all…"_

"It couldn't hurt to ask," Ruby shrugged, and Neo had to admit that she had a point, silently adding that she wished that the doctors had some good news to bring herself, "Don't worry! It's you we're talking about, here! I'm sure that you're going to be fine!"

 _"Thanks for the word of confidence, Ruby,"_ Neo couldn't help but smile at Ruby's words, glad to hear words of support from someone else, _"But enough about me, have you done any interesting things lately?"_

"You mean as in the last twenty-four hours since I last visited you?" Ruby laughed, her response earning a firm and painful jab in the side as Neo clearly did not appreciate that comment. Wincing, Ruby rubbed her now sore side as Neo's expression hadn't changed in the slightest, "Owww… careful there, Neo, or you may very well be the one who has to visit _me_ in the hospital soon."

 _"You earned that one…"_ Neo huffed, turning away stubbornly.

"Aw, come on Neo… Don't be like that," Ruby tried to get Neo to act normally again but, as she soon found out, her efforts proved to be fruitless, "To answer your question, not a lot. I spend the morning with Yang and Blake and ran into Jaune on my way here."

 _"I really appreciate that you're going out of your way to come visit me everyday,"_ Neo began, being forced to turn back around in order for Ruby to read her hands correctly, _"But you shouldn't forget about yourself, either."_

"I'm not! I'm really doing stuff for myself, too!" Ruby exclaimed hastily, knowing where Neo was going with this. When Neo arched an eyebrow in disbelief, Ruby frantically added, "I know that look of yours, Neo, and I really _am_ making sure I take care of myself!"

 _"Really?"_ Neo asked, still in slight disbelief, but Ruby nodded her head, _"Then where have you been accepted? I don't think you have told me yet."_

"That's because I haven't looked yet…" Ruby admitted sadly, "I'm taking another year off… it's—"

 _"I know, Ruby… I know…"_ Neo forced a smile as she quickly put a stop to Ruby's sentence, knowing better than anybody, anybody except for Ruby, how hard it was for Ruby. With a small sigh, Neo carefully asked, _"It still… controls you…?"_

"I wouldn't say that it 'controls' me, though," Ruby breathed out, resting her head on the backrest of the seat for a while before continuing, "But I would be lying if I said that it doesn't still affect me."

 _"That's good,"_ Neo responded with a small smile. Before Ruby could respond to this herself, however, Neo continued, _"Don't get me wrong, what happened was clearly a bad thing and I won't be signing otherwise. It's just that it is a good thing that it affects you; it shows how important it was and just how much you care. I am sure that you'll end up growing more from this in the future."_

"Thanks Neo," Ruby smiled, something that was returned by the shorter girl, "Oh! I almost forgot! Yang and Blake brought me to this great pastry shop earlier! I think it was called… wait… Pasticagni Manicerri…?"

Hearing this, the bedridden woman was visibly trying her best to keep a straight face, much to Ruby's confusion and slight irritation. Neo, not knowing how to sign what she wanted to sign, searched her bed for her phone before typing quickly. Once satisfied, she showed the screen to Ruby.

 _"Pasticceria Manicagni?"_

"Yes! That's the one! The food was soooo good! I should take you there sometime!" Ruby broke off, reminded of how good it was until she remembered something, "Hold on… how did you know?"

 _"I may or may not have been the one who told Yang and Blake about it,"_ Neo smirked, showing the chat between Yang and herself to Ruby. Seeing the change in Ruby's face was all it took for Neo to tremble with silent laughter once again, needing several minutes to calm down her breathing, _"My regular nurse was absent a while back, and the substitute brought some samples from that place with her when doing the usual checkup. Best pastries ever!"_

"I know!" Ruby agreed quickly with a smile, "They were—"

Unfortunately for Neo, she would never find out what word Ruby would use to describe Pasticceria Manicagni's pastries as a knock on the door caught both of the girls' attention.

"Miss Neopolitan? I am here for your daily checkup," a nurse, one that Ruby did not recognize, said as she walked inside the room. Ruby was not the only one who didn't recognize another in the room as the nurse, once her eyes landed on Ruby, added, "It looks like you have a visitor. It is nice to see that you have caring friends, Miss Neopolitan."

 _"It sure does. This is Ruby, by the way; we've been friends for years,"_ Neo signed, introducing Ruby to the nurse before turning to Ruby, _"Ruby, meet the nurse I told you about earlier: Camellia."_

"So you told Neo of that Manicagni Pasticceria—?" Ruby began, turning to Camellia with a smile before a harsh kick to her legs made her look at Neo's phone again. Chuckling sheepishly, and making a mental note to get back to Neo for that surprisingly painful kick someday, Ruby continued, "Sorry, 'Pasticceria Manicagni' is a hard name."

"No worries," Camellia smiled as she walked to Neo's side, "Please hold on for a little while so I can check up on Miss Neopolitan."

"Oh no, that's alright. It's getting late anyway," Ruby replied, grabbing her stuff before turning to Neo, "Bye Neo, I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that said, Ruby hightailed out of the room without a second thought, leaving Neo quietly sitting on her covers with a dazzled nurse.

"She did not have to leave you, the checkup should only take up a few minutes…" Camellia managed to say after a few seconds, quickly trying to regain herself so as to remain professional but keeping an eye on Neo's hands all the same, "Even then, she did not need to leave the room at all."

 _"That's just how she is… I asked her once not to be here when I got a checkup and she hasn't been with me for even a single one,"_ Neo shrugged, smiling softly at her friend's behavior but thankful that she had remembered, _"She's amazing, and I'm really glad that she makes such an effort to see me all the time…"_

"She really does seem amazing," Camellia smiled as she began the checkup, "So… have you told her yet?"

 _"… How can I tell her…?"_ Neo asked hesitantly, wanting to look away but knowing that she couldn't, _"It's not something I can just tell her at anytime… I've been meaning to find the right time to tell her, but…"_

"You still have not?" Camellia guessed after Neo choked. Receiving the nod of confirmation, Camellia fell silent for a while as well, not knowing what to say to cheer Neo up. After a few minutes, Camellia spoke again, "I think that there is no right or wrong time to tell her, you just have to find the courage. She deserves to know. And you better do it soon."

Sighing, Neo turned to look out of the window to see the setting sun bathing the trees in a warm orange hue.

 _'I know…'_

* * *

After leaving Neo's room, Ruby made her way to the elevator to go back home, humming a certain tune quietly yet cheerfully all the way. After pressing the button, she felt the familiar vibration of her phone in her pocket before taking it out and holding it by her ear.

"Yes Yang?" Ruby asked into the phone as she stepped into the elevator. Making sure to press the right button, the brunette moved her phone to her other hand before speaking again, "Don't worry, I'm on my way home now."

 _"That's not why I called,"_ Yang replied, other voices could be heard from her end but Ruby could not pick up what they were saying or who her sister was currently with, _"We're a bit short on a few things, so could you stop by the store to pick up some things?"_

"Sure, but what do I need to get?" Ruby wondered out loud, being able to recall a few things that they had run out of but not remembering the entire list.

 _"Hold on, I'll send you the list,"_ Yang responded as Ruby could hear footsteps, the brunette assuming that and imagining Yang walking around their house, _"Love you Rubes!"_

"Love you too Yang," Ruby smiled before ending the call, stepping out of the elevator as her phone vibrated again. Taking a quick glance at the screen, she found the list of items that she needed to get and found herself smiling, "Well, can't let Yang down!"

With something new to motivate her to act, Ruby dashed out of the hospital's front doors with a cheer…

Before finding herself down on the ground once again.

"Ow… I really need to start looking where I go…" Ruby whined from her spot on the ground, rubbing the sore spots on her legs and back.

"You should be careful where you going," a male voice that Ruby did not recognize spoke from in front of her, causing the brunette to look up. What she saw was the last thing that she had expected.

The man, evidently in his fifties and maybe even older, was almost completely dressed in white, from his hair to his mustache to his jacket; even his shoes were white. The man would have been near elegant had it not been for the scowl on his face, and Ruby had a decent guess as to why that scowl was even there to begin with.

Right when Ruby wanted to apologize, another voice, one she _did_ recognize, could be heard behind the man.

"Father, what is wrong?"

Ruby suppressed a gasp as Weiss Schnee stepped from behind the man, wearing the same clothes that she had when Ruby first met her. Weiss' eyes were first on her father before slowly gravitating towards Ruby. After a few silent yet tense seconds where neither Weiss nor Ruby broke eye contact, the snow haired woman's eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"Father… may I please have a moment?" Weiss asked in a surprisingly soft tone, her eyes never leaving Ruby's as the brunette gulped nervously.

"Make it quick," the man Ruby now knew was Weiss' father grunted.

After receiving permission, Weiss swiftly grabbed Ruby by the wrist and, with more force than Ruby thought possible, dragged her into the hospital. As Weiss looked around for a quiet place to sit, her eyes landed on the deserted café.

Without wasting another second, Weiss brought Ruby to the café, pushing the brunette on a seat before taking a seat for herself.

"W-Weiss?" Ruby stammered, looking at the white haired woman sitting opposite to her. Before she could utter another word, however, Weiss turned to her with a glare.

"What were you thinking?!" Weiss hissed, causing Ruby to shrink away from the angry woman.

"I-It was an accident, I didn't mean to crash into your father," Ruby tried, but she had a feeling that nothing she said would save her.

"Guess it can't be helped…" apparently, Ruby's thoughts were wrong as Weiss almost instantly calmed down after having taken a deep breath, "You really should be looking where you're going you know."

"I know…" Ruby whined, dropping her head on the table before jolting back up, "I'm really sorr—"

"You know as well as I do, if not more so, that I'm not the person you have to be saying that to," Weiss sighed as she interrupted the younger woman, "Look… my father may be strict, but he won't bite your head off. The least you could do is apologize for literally running into him."

"Alright…" Ruby forced a half smile, knowing that Weiss was right but unable to not feel intimidated in her father's presence.

With a small smile of her own, Weiss stood up and made her way back outside. Ruby, knowing that she had little choice, and not feeling like she could leave the hospital without getting noticed, was soon to follow her white haired friend.

"My apologies for taking so long, father," Weiss bowed her head slightly as she got within earshot of her father, "My friend here, Ruby, wants to say something."

"I'm sorry!" Ruby blurted, bowing deeply as Weiss' father raised an eyebrow in shock, "I was in a hurry and I didn't see where I was going and I crashed into you as a result and I'm really really sorry!"

"It is all right," Weiss' father responded and, when Ruby stood back up, the brunette could see hints of a smile on his face. Before she could fully process this, however, Weiss' father spoke again, "I do want to ask you something: Weiss said that your name was Ruby. Are you, by any chance, Ruby Rose?"

"Yes, I am," Ruby answered, unsure as to how or why he knew her name. She figured that Weiss could have talked about her with him, but why would she? They've only been officially introduced earlier that day, and even then Ruby doubted that Weiss would have enough time to talk about her. With a nervous gulp, Ruby turned to Weiss' father once again, "How do you know about me?"

"The real question is why you are asking me that," Weiss' father responded, amusement evident in his voice as he took out a tablet from his jacket's inner pocket, "Ruby Rose… graduated from Patch Senior High after only turning seventeen in her final year; top of her year… graduated from the University of Vale studying the four year medicines program in only three years; top of her year… I do not normally look into random people's performances and pasts, but when it comes to a prodigy like yourself, Miss Rose, I do not think you can blame me for being interested."

"Thank you… I guess I just like to learn," Ruby mumbled, not knowing how to properly respond to his words. Yes, his words spoke the truth, and she couldn't deny them to stay humble even if she wanted to, but it somehow felt much more like a compliment coming from Weiss' father's mouth than she had expected.

"I suppose you do," Weiss' father smiled before storing his tablet away again, "Considering how fast you were running, I am assuming that you have somewhere you need to be soon. Weiss and I will not hold you here any longer."

"It's alright, it's just a few errands that I need to run," Ruby shrugged, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "It was nice talking with you, bu—"

"Weiss, you can accompany Ruby on her errands and meet me in the lobby in an hour," Weiss' father said, interrupting Ruby's sentence and receiving two pair of shocked eyes.

"Father, I—" Weiss tried, but was soon cut off.

"That was not a question, Weiss."

"Yes father…" Weiss gave in with a sigh. Her father, seemingly satisfied, turned around and walked inside, leaving Weiss alone with Ruby outside, "So what are your errands, anyway?"

"Just some grocery shopping," Ruby shrugged as she started to walk in the direction of the store with Weiss by her side, "You know, your father is a lot nicer than I thought he would be."

"I never said that he wasn't," Weiss deadpanned, causing Ruby to chuckle slightly. After a momentary period of silence, Weiss turned to Ruby again, "I didn't know you graduated a year early… twice…"

"What can I say, there are a lot of things you don't know about me," Ruby grinned, glad to know that not every part of her being was known. When Weiss looked at her skeptically, Ruby added, "You looked into me… didn't you…?"

"Not at all," Weiss replied with a dismissive wave as the two women entered the supermarket, "Blake Belladonna is a good friend of mine as well, remember?"

"Riiight…" Ruby took a basket with her and began walking down the aisle, seemingly picking up things in every other shelf as Weiss was content at following the brunette, "What did Blake tell you about me?"

"Nothing bad, I can assure you that much," Weiss responded immediately, her gaze focused on a box of sweets before shrugging and taking it with her, "She has a pretty good opinion of you and your sister. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you known Blake?"

"Seven years… I think…" Ruby answered after a moment to think of the answer, throwing in a few packs of strawberries in the already overfilled shopping basket, "Yang worked part-time at the local library back then, which was when I think when she met Blake."

"Blake sure loves her books alright," Weiss smiled as the two of them reached the cashier and Ruby began unloading, "What about you? What are you doing now that you have a degree in medicines?"

"I actually got it last year," Ruby muttered as she took out the ninth pack of strawberries and gave it to the cashier, "I'm taking another year off. It's a shame that the university already accepted me, but it can't be helped…"

"Why?" Weiss asked, genuinely curious as she made a mental note of Ruby's change in demeanor after saying this, "I know that it is not uncommon for people to take a gap year between degrees, but you withdrew your application after being accepted. Isn't it a shame?"

"It is, but… a lot of things can happen in a year's time…" Ruby mused, her mind bringing up the two people who had moved her to make the choice that she did. Before she knew what was going on, Ruby noticed that Weiss had taken out her wallet and was searching through it, "Weiss, no! This is my stuff; you don't have to—"

"Yes, you're right. I don't," Weiss smirked, standing straight as she eyed Ruby from the corner of her eyes. This act would have been a whole lot more intimidating for Ruby if Weiss was not standing a little shorter than she was. With a genuine smile, Weiss took out her credit card and handed it over to the cashier, "But I want to. I can see why Blake is so fond of you; you've gotten my interest as well. Perhaps a friendship with you could work out after all…"

"Do you really mean that Weiss?" Ruby exclaimed happily, turning to her white haired companion. As Weiss nodded, Ruby tackled her in a hug that almost caused both of them to fall over, "Thank you! I won't let you down, Weiss!"

"I would hope not as I would fall down if you did," Weiss managed, using all of her strength to prevent herself from falling down. As soon as Ruby pulled her back up, Weiss put back her credit card and took several of the bags while Ruby took the remaining ones. Once outside, Weiss turned to Ruby again, "Where are we going?"

"Are you sure that you—" Ruby tried, but fell silent once she saw the look on Weiss' face. Clearing her throat awkwardly, Ruby started walking, "It's this way. May I say again that I really appreciate all of this?"

"Don't worry about it," Weiss huffed, panting slightly as the weight of the bags was quickly taking a toll on her. Fortunately for the snow haired woman, the two reached Ruby's home within ten minutes.

"I wish I could go and help you with bringing it inside…" Weiss trailed off, putting the bags she was carrying on the ground before taking out her phone, "But I have to hurry back or I will keep my father waiting. Say hi to your sister and Blake for me, alright?"

"Nonono, don't worry! You've done more than I could ever ask for! Thank you so much for everything Weiss," Ruby smiled as she picked up all the bags in one fluid motion, "I guess I will see you around, then. Bye!"

And with that, Weiss turned around to make her way back to the hospital, with Ruby standing out there, watching her go, until the former was out of sight.

"That Weiss…" Ruby smiled, chuckling lightly as she turned around, "She's really cool!"

And with that last thought, Ruby Rose entered her house as the sun started to set behind her.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this time's chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **In accordance with the color naming rule: "camellia" is a type of flowering plant that has white, pink or red flowers.**

 **I know that some people will note this in the future, but I will say it nonetheless: this chapter was published on the eighth of August _before_ RWBY Volume 4 was released (in 2016). As a result, we knew little to nothing about Weiss' father at that point in time and, as he will be playing some kind of role at the very least, his personality has been "chosen". If this doesn't match with his canon personality in volumes four and beyond, please keep this mind.**

 **Take care and until next time!**


	5. Edge of Despair

**First of all, happy belated birthday Roseflare! Sorry I couldn't get anything specific for you up in time, but I hope that this general chapter of Field of Tomorrow will be enjoyable!**

 **Thank you to everybody who reviewed last chapter! As a little experiment, I will be mixing things up a little bit today. I can also confirm that the plot is _finally_ starting to pick up, so I hope that you'll look forward to that!**

 **A huge thank you goes to both LightZephyr and another friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous in helping with editing and motivating respectively. You two are awesome!**

 **Disclaimer… I feel like it should be obvious by now, but I'm going to have to say it again to be safe: I do not own RWBY or any of its related materials, nor is it my intention to pretend that I do.**

* * *

Several days had passed since Ruby ran into Weiss' father outside the hospital, and everybody was starting to get busy as their respective lives picked up again. Even with everything else that was going on around her, Weiss Schnee was still unable to remain calm when replaying the scene in her head. The fact that somebody had actually ran into her father still boggled her to this day.

Sitting upright in her bed, Weiss was content with simply watching the different colored leaves spiral down to the ground. Finding something majestic about the sight, the heiress was clearly enjoying herself as a small smile could be found gracing her lips.

"Miss Schnee?"

And just hearing those two words was all it took for Weiss' mood to drop almost instantly.

"Just a minute!" Weiss called in response after a few seconds, fully aware that whoever was outside would wait there until she came out. Groaning silently, the young heiress forced herself to get up from the comfortable comforts of her bed and dragged herself to her wardrobe to make herself presentable to the outside world.

Opening the wide doors to reveal rows upon rows of specially designed and tailored clothes, Weiss' gaze fell on the relatively thick, white dress with black edging in the corner. Smiling, Weiss took the dress and put it on before grabbing a brush and started work on her hair.

Due to intensive care of her hair over the past few years, Weiss didn't need a lot of time to remove all the tangles in it despite only having just woken up. Switching out her brush with her hairband, the young heiress pulled her hair into a ponytail without fully realizing what her hands were doing.

Before she knew it, Weiss was already fully dressed and ready to go out after only a minute or two of work.

Giving herself a qyick once over in the standing mirror, Weiss was happy to see that she couldn't find any way to improve her looks anymore. With a content nod, Weiss moved away from the wardrobe and made her way to her room's door.

"Yes?" Weiss said as she opened the door, revealing an orange haired woman in her early twenties on the other side. While the heiress was shocked to see her of all people at her door, her gaze quickly lowered to the package in the woman's hands.

And everything directly made sense. Weiss didn't even need to hear the woman's words to know why she was there anymore.

"Your father asked you to—" the woman began nervously until a hand was almost shoved into her face, stopping her mid-sentence.

"I know," Weiss sighed dejectedly before taking the package and turning back to the deliverer, "Was that all?"

"Y-Yes, it was," the woman uttered, caught off guard by Weiss' direct response. As she opened and closed her mouth several times without saying anything, she finally managed to force her body to bow, "Have a good day, Miss Schnee. I will be taking my leave now."

"Thank you," Weiss smiled at the older woman, sighing softly as she watched her turn around and walk away. While she wasn't particularly close with any of the staff working for her father's company, Weiss somehow felt something sting deep down regardless at the woman's obvious efforts of keeping her distance.

"I guess I have other things to worry about now that you're back," Weiss muttered whilst eyeing the parcel in her hands. After a few seconds, the white haired woman had made up her mind, "Better get going then!"

* * *

It was less than an hour after the delivery that Weiss closed the car's door and found herself standing in front of the hospital once again. With the earlier delivered package tucked tightly under her arm, the white haired heiress stepped through the automated doors and let the warm air from the hospital's heaters grace her skin.

She was about to head for the elevators on the other side of the hall when a familiar voice calling out from behind her caused her to involuntarily stop mid-stride.

"Weiss!"

Before the called woman could even turn around, she was tackled in a fierce tackle by a familiar brunette.

"Ruby?!" Weiss cried out in surprise, correctly identifying the brunette who was latching on to her. While keeping the package in her hand as far away from harm as possible, she used her other hand to try and get Ruby off of her with no success, "Let go!"

"You heard her sis, you better let go before you get hurt," an amused voice could be heard from behind Weiss' back. Twisting her body as much as possible with Ruby's hold, the heiress saw Yang and Blake standing by the door, both wearing a wide smile, "Hey!"

"Could you perhaps stop grinning and help me out here?" Weiss grunted as she still fought desperately to get Ruby away from her. The brunette, much to the heiress' annoyance, had a vice-like grip that she was not sure she could break with two hands, let alone one.

"And end the show prematurely? No way!" Yang grinned as she leaned back. This comment of hers resulted in a painful jab in the sides from Blake, causing Yang to yelp in pain, "Blake! What was that for?!"

"What do you _think_ it was for?" Blake deadpanned before walking over to the still struggling Weiss, "It's a simple trick, really. All you have to do is… this."

In a swift motion, Blake grabbed Ruby's elbows and applied pressure, causing Ruby to retract her arms and freeing Weiss in the process. As Ruby collected herself from the ground, all the while grumbling to herself, Weiss turned to address her savior, "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome," Blake smiled before turning serious, "But you owe us an explanation you know."

"An explanation?" Weiss echoed, eyeing Blake and her friends in confusion, expecting the raven haired woman to be messing with her. When she saw similar serious looks on both Ruby's and Yang's faces, Weiss was sure that they weren't messing with her, "What do you mean that I owe you an explanation?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yang asked while regrouping with the other three, "We saw you by Eleventh Mist earlier today and called out to you, but you just straight up ignored all of us."

"What?" Weiss cried out in shock as she processed this new information. After a few seconds, the heiress added, "What do you mean?"

"Come on Weiss, don't lie," Ruby urged with a knowing smile, "We passed Eleventh Mist on our way here and saw you right outside it. I was practically yelling your name but you ignored me regardless! I thought we were friends!"

"My ears are still ringing…" Blake muttered off-handedly, but soft enough for only Yang to hear her.

"But that's impossible," Weiss mused, brow furrowed as she was clearly deep in thought.

"What do you mean 'it is impossible'?" Ruby asked before turning to both Blake and Yang, "That woman we saw in front of Eleventh Mist. She was wearing a white dress with black edging right? We didn't mistake her for somebody else right?"

"I don't think we have," Yang responded as she frowned in thought, "She even had white hair that came to her waist, and even had a fair skin tone, too."

"I'm still sure that you mistook some girl for me," Weiss held on stubbornly. With a soft sigh, she added, "I was at home the entire day and only just got out to come here an hour ago. I didn't even go anywhere near Eleventh Mist."

"If you're sure," Blake sighed before stretching, a loud _clonk_ could be heard from her shoulders that caused the three other women to jump in surprise. Seemingly content, Blake turned back to the group, "But chatting while standing is such a pain. Isn't there supposed to be a café in the hospital?"

"There is one right there," Weiss said while pointing in the right direction. As sky blue eyes met amber ones, a smile graced both Weiss' and Blake's lips, "Coffee?"

"Tea," Blake responded before following the heiress to the café with a light spring in her step.

The two of them had left both Yang and Ruby behind without even realizing it, almost as if the two sisters didn't exist at all.

"Why do I get the feeling that they are already used to this?" Yang grumbled while walking beside her sister, the two of them going at a visibly slower pace than Blake and Weiss were.

"Well, they _do_ know each other longer than we do," Ruby responded with a shrug before plopping down in the seat across Weiss. It was only then that her eyes fell on the package that the heiress had been carrying all day and, unable to suppress her curiosity any longer, voiced her interest, "Hey Weiss, what you got there?"

"I don't know," Weiss admitted as she slowly lowered her cup, "My father asked me to give this to Winter."

"Winter?" Yang asked, the blonde's voice shaking Weiss back to reality.

"F-Forget I said anything!" Weiss rushed as she glared the older sister, Yang and Ruby getting caught off guard by Weiss' sudden outburst but Blake nodding discreetly in understanding, "What about you? I've seen you quite a lot here lately, Ruby."

"That's right, you have haven't you?" Ruby smiled as she recalled the various times that they had run into one another before going on to answer Weiss' question, "We're here to visit Neo. She's an old friend of ours, I could have sworn that I told you about her already… haven't I?"

"I think you might have mentioned her once…" Weiss muttered as she raked her brain to try and remember a 'Neo' having been brought up.

"She's awesome! Hey, how about we—" Ruby tried to say enthusiastically but was interrupted when a buzzing sound caught all four women's attention.

"Sorry…" Weiss apologized almost sheepishly as she took her phone out and scanned the screen for several seconds. With a sigh, she pocketed her phone again and stood up, "That was Winter. I'm afraid I have to go."

"That's a shame," Ruby said dejectedly as she slumped down in her chair. Both Yang and Blake shared a similar sad look as they watched Weiss gather her things, "We'll have to introduce you to Neo the next time we run into you here then."

"I look forward to it," Weiss smiled. She was about to walk off until she seemingly remembered something. Gently putting the parcel back on the table, Weiss took out several bills and offered them to Blake, "For our drinks. Keep the change."

"You know how I feel about using your money to pay for my expenses, Weiss," Blake sighed as she kept her attention on her cup, "I'm not using your money to pay for this."

"Have it your way then," Weiss shrugged, instead turning her attention to the two sisters and trying her luck with them, "Here. Use it to pay for the drinks."

"Are you sure Weiss?" Ruby asked, unsure of what to make of the situation, "I don't want to feel like we're using you for—"

"Ruby, I _want_ to pay for us," Weiss interjected, stressing each syllable menacingly. With a rough exhalation of air, Weiss slammed the bills on the table and took her belongings, "I'm leaving that there. Do what you want with it."

Without giving any of her three friends a second glance, Weiss turned her back to them and walked off.

It wasn't until five minutes had passed when one of the three finally managed to break the heavy silence.

"Now what?" Yang sighed, eyeing the money that Weiss had left behind, "You think we should find a way to give these back to Weiss?"

"Don't waste your energy, I can guarantee you that that won't work. Trust me, I tried," Blake responded grimly as she stood up and took the bills, "Should we go and visit Neo then? I'll catch up with you two in a bit."

* * *

"Winter? Can I come in? It's me, Weiss." Weiss called out after knocking on the door. Taking a step back, the heiress hurriedly smoothened out her dress before the door clicked open.

Before Weiss could fully psych herself up for what was to come, the door had already swung open and a woman in her late twenties or low thirties at most smiled down at her. Clearly a patient there, if the hospital gown that she was wearing was any indication, she had Weiss' eyes, hair and skin tone.

"Weiss!" the woman, Winter, smiled brightly as soon as she saw who was visiting her, "Come in come in!"

"Should you even be out of bed in your condition?" Weiss asked hesitantly, eyeing the state of her sister. While Winter wasn't visibly injured as much as Weiss' words and tone implied she was, the younger sister couldn't help but ask regardless.

"I should be able to do at least this much if my sister comes all the way to visit me, now shouldn't I?" Winter responded with a smile as Weiss helped her back in bed. As soon as the older sister hit the soft covers of her bed, Winter's face turned serious, "So why are you _really_ here? You wouldn't come all the way here just to say hello."

"You got me there," Weiss smiled sheepishly before handing the package that she had been carrying with her the entire day over to Winter, "Father asked me to give this to you."

"I see…" Winter trailed off as she accepted the delivered item. Carefully placing it on the nightstand, she focused all of her attention back on her younger sister, "So how have you been, Weiss?"

"I'm doing alright, just…" now it was Weiss' turn to trail off as the younger Schnee turned to look out the window. Much to her amusement, Weiss saw that the majestic dance of the falling leaves hadn't ended.

"Just… what?" Winter asked after a prolonged period of time, genuinely curious to know what her sister was about to say, "You can tell me Weiss."

"I'm just worried about you!" Weiss blurted out before realizing what she was doing. More so than the fact that Weiss was worried about her, Winter was caught even more off guard by the fact that Weiss' voice cracked whilst saying that. Weiss had seemingly noticed this as well as she was a lot softer when adding, "After what happened with mother, you…"

"Weiss…" Winter breathed out as she watched her sister. While the beginnings of a smile started to form on the older Schnee's lips, she quickly swapped it out for a stern look, "How are your fencing classes going?"

"They are going great," Weiss answered curtly, taking full advantage of the question to promptly change the topic of discussion, "As a matter of fact, I have been told that I am ten classes ahead ahead."

"Only ten?" Winter asked with a playful smirk, "When I was at your level, I was at least fifteen classes ahead of the program. What have you been doing all this time?"

"Well, I—" Weiss began, only to trail off after hearing Winter's joyous laughter. With a light pout, and an embarrassed flush on her face, Weiss tried to change the subject once again, "Why did you ask?"

"Here's the thing, and I need you to listen carefully to me…" Winter trailed off, suddenly completely serious once again as she gazed directly into Weiss' eyes, "I want you to bring Myrtenaster with you at all times from now on."

"Myrtenaster? How did—?" Weiss exclaimed in shock, apparently more surprised that her sister knew that she had named her rapier than telling her to bring her with her. Accepting that issue to not be the most important at that time, Weiss instead questioned the actual order, "Why do I have to bring my rapier with me? Isn't that a bit… much?"

Winter did not directly answer her sister's questions; rather, the older Schnee took her time with exhaling the breath that she didn't knew she was holding. It was only when her she inhaled again that Winter turned to look at Weiss again, but something was different this time.

Winter's eyes held an intensity that Weiss had never seen before, intensity so powerful that the younger sister unconsciously took a step back.

"You can't tell anyone, especially father, that I told you this. Do you understand?" Winter started, her eyes still locked on her little sister. Weiss gulped nervously, visibly intimidated by the air around her sister, but nodded to indicate that she would. It was only then that Winter continued, "It wasn't an accident that happened with both mother and I; both times were planned attacks. And they may be planning another very soon."

"What?!"

* * *

"I thought I said that I would catch up with you two," Blake grumbled as she saw the waiting Ruby and Yang just a bit away from the hospital's café, "Why did you wait for me?"

"Is that how you thank us for being considerate?" Yang responded with a mock-hurt expression before laughing it off, "In our household, we do things together when possible, right Rubes?"

"We sure do!" Ruby nodded vigorously as the three friends finally reached the elevators, with Ruby taking the initiative to press the button. As they waited for the elevator to descend to the ground floor, Ruby turned back to Blake, "Besides, it's not like we're in any hurry, right?"

"I suppose you're right…" Blake sighed in defeat, causing both Ruby and Yang to grin in response as the elevator doors finally opened.

Blake, Ruby and Yang all stepped inside, with the former pressing the button for Neo's floor. Due to a lack of anything to say, the three of them fell into a heavy silence while waiting to reach their desired floor.

It was a floor before their destination that somebody finally broke the silence.

"Thanks for coming you two," Ruby muttered, with the doors sliding open almost immediately after that, "I'm sure that Neo appreciates it as much as I do, if not more."

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow, catching Ruby's attention as the brunette almost gaped at her taller and older friend, "Neo is our friend, too. It's only natural for us to spend time with her, right Yang?"

"You bet that's right!" Yang grinned, being the first to exit the elevator and thus had to wait for the other two to follow her, "Besides, she's done so much for you, Rubes. I feel bad not coming to visit her more often. I owe her!"

"I know Yang, I know," Ruby smiled as the three women began walking in the direction of Neo's room, "How often have you two actually visited her?"

"I think about once or twice," Yang responded sadly as Blake nodded solemnly in agreement, not having visited Neo all that much either, "Our jobs clashed with the visiting hours so we haven't really had a lot of chances to actually visit her."

"Better late than never I guess," Ruby grinned before realizing that she was standing before Neo's door. Sharing a smile with both Blake and Yang, Ruby soon found her hand knocking on the door, "Neo! It's me, Ruby! Can I come in?"

Much to Ruby's shock, the three of them were met with an eerie silence in response. Not knowing what else to do, Ruby tried the door handle and pushed.

The door swung open after the brunette put a bit of weight behind it.

"That's strange," Blake mused as she watched the door swing open, "Neo doesn't normally leave the door unlocked, does she?"

"No, she doesn't…" Ruby breathed out as she entered the room.

A light gasp from the youngest of the three caused both Blake and Yang to rush into the room as well.

"Ruby! What's wrong?" Yang cried out in alarm before taking a good look of the room.

The room was much like how Ruby remembered it to be. The walls were as white as Ruby remembered them to be. Everything was in the place that they had to be, or at least where they had been the last time Ruby came here. The only thing that wasn't there was…

"Where's Neo?" Yang asked to nobody in particular, being the first of the three to find her voice again after fully processing the sight of the room that they were in.

"I don't know…" Ruby muttered in response as she slowly made her way to the bed, "This isn't the usual time for her examination, either. Even if it was, she doesn't usually leave the room."

"Perhaps…" Blake mused, apparently deep in thought as she took another look around. When Yang turned in her direction, the raven haired woman knew that she had to elaborate. With a heavy sigh, she did, but was visibly uncomfortable while doing so, "You see… there have been a lot of incidents with people getting hospitalized and hospitalized people suddenly… disappearing… perhaps—"

"NO!" Ruby shouted, her voice sounding a lot louder than it would have due to the quiet atmosphere of the room.

"But what if—" Blake tried again, trying to bring her point across before being interrupted once again.

"I don't believe it!" Ruby almost shrieked, Yang visibly flinching at both the sound of her sister's cry and the sight of the tears in the brunette's eyes, "There's no way that Neo… Neo can't…"

Without finishing her sentence, Ruby had already bolted and made a wild dash for the stairs.

Yang and Blake were both forced to watch her go, unable to think of anything to do or say that might have stopped Ruby in time.

The seconds that followed felt like they dragged on forever, with both Yang and Blake being painfully aware of the heavy silence that was on their shoulder.

"You just _had_ to bring that up, didn't you?" Yang finally asked after what could have been years of silence, her voice practically dripping with anger as she turned on Blake.

"I was trying to get her ready for the worst case scenario," Blake replied defensively, but almost immediately deflated, "You know I didn't mean to hurt Ruby; I don't want anything bad happening to Neo any more than Ruby does!"

"I know…" Yang exhaled, trying to release as much of her anger as possible. When she next spoke, much to Blake's relief, she had visibly calmed down considerably, "But we have to find out what really happened to Neo. It's not like her to just… disappear… like that."

"Should we try the front office?" Blake offered without any hesitation, "If anybody would have any news on her, it would be them. Whether good or bad."

"Right… let's go."

* * *

While Blake and Yang were still in Neo's room discussing what to do, Ruby had abandoned the horrendously slow elevator and chosen the stairs instead. In less than half a minute, Ruby had traversed the two flights of stairs to reach the ground floor, and was now racing towards the front office.

"Ma'am?" the man sitting at the front office asked a panting Ruby, "Please refrain from running in the hospital."

"I'm sorry, but you got to help me!" Ruby shouted before being forced to hunch over in a desperate effort to calm down her breathing.

"O-Of course!" the man blurted out, not knowing what to make of Ruby's state and request but still willing to help the brunette out.

"Neo…politan… room… three ten…" Ruby panted before taking "Where is she?"

"Well, she—" the man started, until a loud _ring_ caught both of their attention.

"Sorry…" Ruby apologized sheepishly as she took out her phone. As expected, she received a message.

It was seeing _who_ sent it that made Ruby's blood freeze.

"Ma'am?" the man asked carefully, noticing the change in the brunette's posture after Ruby read the message, "Are you all right?"

"Ruby! There you are!" a familiar voice shouted from the direction of the elevators. While the patients and workers all flinched at the loud call, Ruby herself didn't react in any way to the call.

It wasn't long until both Yang and Blake reached Ruby's side, with the former placing a warm hand on the brunette's shoulder, "We've been looking for you! So you decided to come here as well, huh?"

Blake, not rushing into Ruby like Yang did, was the first to notice the trembling of Ruby's figure, "Ruby, what's wrong?"

Hearing Blake's words was all it took for Yang's cheerful smile to be replaced with a worried frown as she, too, noticed the state that her sister was in.

Before Yang could speak, however, Ruby had turned around and handed her phone to them.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and until next time! On a side note: I don't own Toaru Majutsu no Index or its spinoff, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, either; nor do I intend to pretend that I do simply because I referenced those series… multiple times… once again… Take care!**


	6. The Looming Shadow

**And we're back with a new chapter… not going as well as I had hoped in terms of update speed, but I hope you like this chapter regardless of the wait!**

 **I should probably say this, despite having written on my profile page already, that I _do_ respond to reviews (even if it may take some time). All registered users will receive a pm in response while all guest reviewers (whom I do not have other ways to respond to; with that I am primarily referring to all guest reviews barring ****Roseflare** **and** **LightZephyr** **) will be responded to on my tumblr.**

 **Disclaimer! I do not own RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

 _"You can't tell anyone, especially father, that I told you this. Do you understand?" Winter started, her eyes still locked on her little sister. Weiss gulped nervously, visibly intimidated by the air around her sister, but nodded to indicate that she would. It was only then that Winter continued, "It wasn't an accident that happened with both mother and I; both times were planned attacks. And they may be planning another very soon."_

"Miss Schnee?"

The gentle yet hesitant voice shook Weiss back to reality but caused her to almost cut herself with the rapier she was holding in her hands as well. Holstering her rapier, the heiress turned to the person who just entered her room.

"Yes?" Weiss asked, turning around to face the familiar woman. One look at her and Weiss couldn't help but let out a small sigh, "Did my father ask for me?"

"He did, but if you are busy—" the messenger said hastily, but was waved off as Weiss stood.

"That will not be necessary, please tell my father that I will be with him shortly," Weiss announced before watching her leave the room.

It was only when she heard the reassuring clicking sound of the closing door that Weiss slumped back down on her bed.

"So what should I do with you?" Weiss wondered out loud as she, once again, took out her rapier and gently placed it in her lap. After a second or two, Weiss couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh who am I kidding?"

Without wasting another second, in part thanks to the knowledge of her father waiting for her, Weiss holstered her rapier and left for her father's office.

It was more frigid than usual in the hallway, and Weiss found herself walking faster to get out of the cold. Before she knew it, the heiress had wrapped both arms around herself in a desperate effort to try and stay as warm as possible.

Right when Weiss could hear the chattering of her teeth echo through the otherwise serene hallway, the heiress found herself in front of her father's office. With a sigh of relief, she hurriedly knocked on the door and waited uncomfortably in both the cold and silence.

"Come in."

Not wanting to stay in the dark, cold hallway any longer than was necessary, Weiss quickly grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open.

"You wanted to see me, father?" Weiss curtsied after closing the door behind her.

"Yes, I did," Weiss' father replied, assembling a stack of papers on his desk before turning to face his daughter. It was then that his gaze slowly moved towards the sheathed rapier on Weiss' hip, and he was not one to let that go unnoticed, "Why did you bring your rapier with you?"

"Oh, this?" Weiss asked, startled as she looked at her rapier as well. With her mouth already open, the heiress was only barely able to stop herself from saying anything when Winter's voice rang through her head.

 _"You can't tell anyone, especially father"_

"Well, Weiss?" the sound of her father's voice shook Weiss back to reality, and the heiress nearly jumped in surprise.

"I…" Weiss gulped before an idea suddenly hit her. With a new surge of confidence flooding her being, she continued, "I was practicing when you called me here, father. I must have forgotten to return it before heading here."

"I see…" came the reply from the old man as he frowned, visibly deep in thoughts.

After a short period of silence in which she waited for her father's response, Weiss was about to break the silence. That was when a chill ran down her spine, causing her to flinch as she felt the air grow colder.

 _'What's going on? It's almost as if an invisible hand of ice is holding me in a death grip,'_ Weiss thought to herself as she took an unconscious step back, _'It's as if—"_

"Weiss!"

"Y-Yes!" Weis cried out on reflex, straightening her posture whilst doing so before relaxing back again once she fully took in her surroundings. Taking a deep breath, the heiress turned to her father once again, "Why did you call me again, father?"

"You should already know this, but I am saying this again if it was yet to be made clear to you," Weiss' father sighed before shifting his position into a more comfortable one. Once satisfied, he continued, "After what happened with Winter… I want you to be extra careful from today onwards, you understand? Bring your rapier with you at all times if you have to."

"I understand, father," Weiss nodded as she gently held the hilt of her rapier almost to reassure her father that she would not forget, "Then, if that is all…"

"You're excused," Weiss father waved the heiress off, and the heiress was sure that she saw the remnants of a smile leave her father's lips when she straightened her body again.

The familiar sound indicating the door having been fully closed reverberated through the room, and Weiss' father let out a sigh that he didn't know he was holding.

He was exhausted.

Before the old man knew it, his gaze landed on a worn out picture frame standing in the corner of his desk behind a pile of stacked papers. The picture showcased a smiling Winter carrying a laughing Weiss on her shoulders as the two sisters were surrounded by the falling snow. Both Schnees were a lot younger, and the state in which the frame itself was in showed that it had gone through many months.

Twenty seconds later, Weiss' father had the number already dialed in on his phone and, while waiting impatiently for the other end to pick up, found his fingers drumming the wooden desk.

 _"Yes?"_

With one hand resting on the picture's frame, Weiss' father let out a sigh before speaking.

"I have made up my mind."

* * *

 _Blake, not rushing into Ruby like Yang did, was the first to notice the trembling of Ruby's figure, "Ruby, what's wrong?"_

 _Hearing Blake's words was all it took for Yang's cheerful smile to be replaced with a worried frown as she, too, noticed the state that her sister was in._

 _Before Yang could speak, however, Ruby had turned around and handed her phone to them._

As Ruby was still trying to process what had happened earlier that day in the hospital, Blake was frantically trying to help Yang navigate the streets of the city of Vale.

"Crossroad incoming!" Yang yelled to her right as she continued to drive, "Which way should we go?!"

"Hold on a minute!" Blake responded frantically as her amber eyes scanned the map in her lap, "Turn left and take the second right!"

"Got it!" came the reply, only a fraction of a second before the car violently jerked to the side. Looking up, Blake saw that Yang's brow was furrowed in concentration as the blonde threw all of her weight onto the wheel.

"Yang… please…" Blake panted as she glared in said girl's direction, "Don't ever do that again."

"Yeah, we've been over this!" Ruby added from the back, the frustration clearly evident in her voice.

"Sorry about that," Yang could only chuckle at the angry stares that she was getting, and both Ruby and Blake eventually sighed in defeat. As Yang turned the corner, she turned to look at her sister through the rearview mirror, "So which one is it?"

"Three-ten…" Ruby muttered after glancing at her phone's screen again. As the three focused their attention on the numbers of the houses that they passed, Yang had unconsciously slowed down the car considerably.

"There it is!" Blake exclaimed, pointing at the house in question and grabbing the sisters' attention. Noticing this, Blake added frantically, "Yang! Eyes on the road!"

"Huh?" Yang, caught off-guard, looked to the front before knocking the wheel sideways.

"Ow… Yaaaaaang, what was that for?" Ruby's pained voice came. The sudden movement caused the brunette to fall down, and she was busy rubbing her arms while getting back on the seat.

The familiar sound of the opening and slamming shut of a door caused Ruby to look up; only to see that Yang had already exited the car and Blake was busy with trying to get out of the seatbelt.

"Blake? What happened?" Ruby asked the raven haired woman, deciding that her interest in finding out what happened was greater than chasing after her sister.

"Your sister nearly ran over a girl when she turned around to look at the houses," Blake responded coolly, her attention still focused on removing her seatbelt as the occasional grunt could be heard from her general direction.

With her gaze on something else, Blake didn't see that Ruby visibly paled at hearing that.

"Finally!" Blake huffed, having successfully gotten free after struggling for so long. While smoothening out her clothes a bit, she turned, "Come on, we should go and see if there is something that we can do. If anyone can, it's you."

"Right…" Ruby muttered as she slowly followed Blake out of the car, her mind wandering back to a scene from long ago. Desperate to keep the memory away, Ruby shook her head violently before following Blake to the front of the car.

Once there, Blake and Ruby saw that Yang was continuously apologizing to a girl with black hair and, while seemingly about the same age as Ruby, was noticeably shorter than the brunette. The girl's bangs were covering her forehead and the locks in the back reached well below her shoulder blades. She wore a white shirt with long sleeves under a black vest and a dark blue long skirt.

The girl, while appearing to be physically unharmed, seemed to be uneasy at Yang's actions.

"Ah, Rubes, just in time!" Yang called out as she saw her sister stand beside her, "I've been trying to apologize to her for nearly running her over, but she's not responding—"

"And you're surprised?" Blake muttered under her breath while shaking her head, but went unnoticed by the others.

"Help me, please!" Yang finished as she grabbed Ruby by the shoulders.

"What do you want me to do?", Ruby asked in shock, "You're the better of us in terms of talking with new people."

"You got a point there…" Yang mused as she turned back to the girl in front of her, "I just thought that she wasn't responding because she couldn't, and you know sign language, so…"

"You really think that that—" Ruby began, before noticing the hands of the girl move in a familiar way. Nodding to confirm that she understood the message, Ruby turned to Blake and a grinning Yang.

"I hate to say 'I told you so'—" Yang began cheerily before getting shut off by a firm stab in the side.

"What did she say?" Blake asked, ignoring the grunts of pain from the blonde beside her and directing her question to Ruby instead.

"She wanted us to follow her…" Ruby responded slowly, almost as if unsure whether or not she understood it correctly. To make sure, the brunette turned to the waiting girl in question, "Right?"

Instead of responding with either words or hands, the question was met with a warm and cheerful smile in response.

"I guess that confirms it," Blake muttered to herself, "But why?"

"She said that we'll find out when we get there," Ruby responded almost instantly, before adding in a soft voice, "Do you think we can trust her?"

"I think we'll be fine; worse come to worse and I'll step in," Yang replied with a grin, "Besides, I still owe her an apology and I can't really do that if she doesn't respond to me."

"I guess we have no choice, then," Blake sighed while Yang smiled at the response, "Let's get this out of the way and then go see Neo."

"Right!" Ruby nodded before turning to the mysterious girl, "Lead the way!"

With a smile and a spring in her step, the black haired girl skipped ahead of them towards one of the house before turning around cheerfully to see whether or not they were actually following her.

Much to her disappointment, Blake and Yang were lagging quite far behind.

"What do you want to show us?" Ruby asked, suddenly appearing right beside the black-haired girl. Not expecting Ruby to be beside her, the shorter girl jumped in surprise, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

 _"It is all right,"_ came the signed response, and Ruby smiled in relief when she understood what she was being told, _"As for your question. You will find out once we are inside. That is if the other two would hurry up and get here."_

"Yang! Blake! Come on!" Ruby called out to the two, after which they had a noticeable increase in walking speed. Before too long, the four of them had regrouped and the mysterious girl walked up to the house. It was only then that Ruby took a good look at the house that they were about to enter, "Hold on… this is three ten… does that mean?"

Blake and Yang, having stepped back to take a better look at the house, noticed this as well. A few seconds of silence followed, after which Blake, Ruby and Yang all turned to the girl in front of them.

With a smug grin on her face, the black-haired girl opened the door and beckoned the other three to follow her in. This time, none of them wasted any time to follow the mysterious girl as curiosity was driving them forward.

The inside of the house was well lit and the white walls were nearly spotless. As Ruby and Yang stood in the hall to enjoy these luxuries, Blake ushered the sisters forward impatiently after entering last.

With only one door to go through, the three of them didn't have much of a choice as to where they had to follow the girl.

Stepping through the door, the three of them found themselves in what appeared to be the living room. What surprised them the most was that the room was almost barren, the only pieces of furniture in it being a set of mismatched chairs and a small coffee table.

And on one of those chairs sat someone whom the three of them all recognized.

"Neo!"

Smiling brightly, the familiar girl with her signature tri-colored hair gestured for the three visitors to take a seat. On her lap was both the black vest that the black haired girl was wearing and what appeared to be a wig.

"That was you?" Yang asked, impressed at Neo's ability to change her appearance so well. After receiving a nod of confirmation from the younger girl, Yang added, "Why did you have to go so far to make yourself so different? No offense intended, but that look really didn't suit you all that much."

 _"None taken,"_ Neo smiled as she signed her response, with Ruby acting as translator for Blake and Yang. With a sigh, the vertically challenged girl looked up and, much to the other three's surprise, there was a glint of sadness and pain in Neo's eyes as she began signing again, _"You probably have a lot of questions right now… and I know that you deserve an answer for most of them, so I will try to answer them for you."_

"Before that," Ruby interjected, adopting a concerned look as she turned to Blake and Yang, both sharing a similar look as the brunette, before turning back to Neo, "Why are you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but shouldn't you be in the hospital right now?"

 _"Maybe I should, shouldn't I?"_ Neo signed with a smug grin on her face. In an effort to allow the weight of her signed line to sink it, Neo watched contently as the expressions on Blake's face changed as the raven haired girl understood what Neo was trying to say. With a deep breath, Neo felt a gentle tremor in her throat as she, for the first time in months, talked, "But maybe it's fine for me to be here if I'm already better."

Five seconds. Five seconds of silence in which Ruby and Yang both gaped at the smirking Neo while Blake smiled, glad to have her hopes confirmed.

"Your voice! It's back! When—?! How—?! Why—?!" Ruby blurted out excitedly, struggling to form a cohesive and coherent sentence. All the while, the other three occupants of the room laughed at Ruby's excitement, "That's awesome! Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Neo smiled cheerfully in response before her expression darkened again. Blake, Ruby, and Yang were all quick to pick up on this and waited patiently for Neo to continue, "It's just… I wasn't expecting this to be the way that I would be telling you guys that I had fully recovered… it was supposed to be a happy moment."

"What do you mean 'supposed to be a happy moment', Neo?" Yang asked, having picked up on the words that Neo added at the end, "There's something more going on, isn't there? That's why you send that message to Ruby and why you went beyond what was necessary to change your appearance, am I right?"

"Yes… you are…" Neo finally admitted with a deep sigh. Rummaging through her pockets, Neo took out a folded piece of paper and laid it out on the table, "I had to make sure that only the three of you heard about this and that nobody would be able to get this information off of me when I told you."

"Tell us… what, exactly?" Blake asked, now curious to find out what Neo wanted to tell them. Both Ruby and Yang were just as curious, if not more so, as their raven-haired friend.

"Haven't you heard?" Neo asked, waiting for a reaction but only receiving blank stares as a response, "There has been a multitude of attacks on people lately. And not just any people, either. All of them are either those who got power or those who are related to those with power."

"Now that you mention it…" Yang mused as she bit her lower lip while going deep in thought, "Pyrrha said something about that a while earlier as well. Said her old man was ambushed, but got away relatively safely in the end."

"And is that the reason why you wore that disguise?" Ruby asked her friend, who nodded in confirmation.

"In part, at least. I'm not sure if they're after me specifically, but I know for a fact that they were behind _that_ day as well," Neo added, her hands balling into fists as she remembered that fateful day. And so did Ruby. Noticing this, Neo placed a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder, "If you're still blaming yourself for what happened, please stop. We both know that it wasn't your fault; if anyone is to blame, they are."

"All right." Ruby sighed, letting this new information sink in. Neo smiled at hearing this response.

"And do you have any idea who 'they' may be?" Yang asked, but was disappointed to see that Neo shook her head.

"But that isn't the only reason why I needed to tell you this in person," Neo continued in an even more serious tone, "I wasn't the only person there on that day. It could be that I wasn't their target at all."

"So you're saying that—" Ruby exclaimed in shock but was unable to finish her sentence.

Neo nodded.

* * *

The sun was starting to set when Ruby and Yang got out of the car, the younger sister carrying a bag of take-away with her, after having dropped off Blake at her home. Both sisters were unusually quiet after their earlier visit at Neo's and simply walked the short distance from the car to their front door.

"Yang?" Ruby almost whispered, her words going almost completely unnoticed by the older sister; and they would have had Ruby not stopped walking.

"Yes, Rubes?" Yang asked in response, waiting patiently for her little sister to continue.

"Do you think that what Neo said was… true…?" Ruby asked uneasily as she played with the bag in her hands, "I mean, for someone to go that far…"

"I know what you mean, but I think she does," Yang responded after giving herself a second to think, "You should know this better than anyone, so I shouldn't have to say it, but if anybody is determined to get their goals achieved it would be Neo. If she goes so far to make sure that we know of this, then I am pretty sure that she believes that it is true."

"You're right…" Ruby sighed in defeat, "I'm just… I don't know what to do, Yang."

"Don't worry," Yang smiled as she gave Ruby a warm hug. Ruby, while not expecting to receive the hug, did not struggle against it, either. Instead, she moved into the comfort of her sister, "I'm here, Blake's here, we're all here. It's going to be fine, Ruby, trust me."

"Thanks, Yang, I needed that," Ruby smiled before pulling away from her sister's embrace. Yang smiled as well, seeing that Ruby was, indeed, seemingly feeling a lot more at ease now, "Let's get inside, I'm starving!"

"Way ahead of you!" Yang smirked as she nudged the door with her the back of her heel and allowing it to swing open.

Yang was about to enter when she heard something and froze. Ruby, already standing in the house, turned to look at her sister, "What's wrong?"

Ignoring Ruby's question, Yang spun turned around on her heel and shouted, "Whoever you are, come out! It's no use hiding anymore!"

Both sisters tensed when they heard a rustling from behind the bushes to their left and, before long, a figure came into view and slowly walked towards them with a noticeable limp in their stride. Yang, who had positioned herself in front of Ruby almost automatically, slowly eased up when she saw the state that the person was in.

She was exhausted. Her clothes had a multitude of tears in them and her hair was sticking up in many directions. While the sharp blade holstered at the woman's hip caused Yang to be worried, she realized that this woman would not be in any state to use it against them.

"Are you—?" Yang began but stopped when the woman fell forward into her. Unconscious.

It was then that Ruby saw the emblem on the woman's back.

"Weiss?"

* * *

 **This wraps up today's chapter. Also, as you may have noticed, I have changed the genre of "Hurt/Comfort" to "Suspense" because… I am going down a different path than what I had originally thought I would traverse… similar plot and similar end goal but a different road to get to said end goal. Hope you enjoyed it and until next time (22nd of October is what I am aiming for)! Take care!**


	7. The Start of Something More

**Welcome to the seventh chapter of this story! Since there is going to be a significant gap between this chapter and the next, I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their continued support of this story! I know that I sound like a broken record, but I cannot emphasize enough as to how much all of your support means to me. Thank you!**

 **Another thank you, of course, goes to the person who helped me in getting this chapter ready so quickly!** **LightZephyr** **, you're the best!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

 _Dark… so… dark…_

That was the first thought that came to Weiss as she was slowly regaining her consciousness. The next thing that she realized was that she was laying on something soft and that she felt… warm…

Where _was_ she? And, more importantly, how was she…?

As Weiss tried to think of a place where she could be, she heard the distinct sound of footsteps coming close to her prone body and instantly tensed. She remembered what happened the last time when she couldn't see what was going on around her and a set of footsteps was approaching her.

And she did not like it one bit.

Gathering all the strength that was left in her body, Weiss forced herself to sit upright. She immediately regretted her decision to move so suddenly as she was already getting lightheaded.

"Ah! You're awake!"

That voice… Weiss recognized it, but couldn't quite place a name to it. Fortunately for the heiress, she didn't have to do so as she found herself in the arms of a brunette whom she _did_ recognize.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, perplexed, as said woman pulled away and beamed at Weiss. Weiss, having finally realized where she was, turned to the woman in front of her, "How did I get here?"

"You collapsed in front of our house, princess. Did you really think we would leave you out there throughout the night in that condition?" a new yet still familiar voice answered the heiress before Ruby could, causing both Ruby and Weiss to turn in the direction of which the new voice came from. When Weiss looked up, she saw Yang carrying a steaming bowl over and gently placing it in front of her, "I know that it isn't much, but you really should eat something."

"Thank you…" Weiss muttered as she dipped a spoon into the soup, raised it to her mouth and swallowed the warm liquid after a moment of hesitation. As she felt the watchful eyes of the sisters on her, Weiss was pleasantly surprised at the taste of that one spoonful, "This is great!"

"Thanks for the compliment; that means a lot coming from you," Yang chuckled as she watched Weiss finish her meal in only a few minutes. As soon as the heiress placed the spoon in the empty bowl, Yang's smile faded while her brow furrowed, "Weiss. I know you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but we need to talk. What exactly happened to you last night?"

"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed in shock as she turned to her sister, "Can't that wait for later? Weiss just woke up and—"

"No!" Weiss interjected, startling not just Ruby but Yang as well. With a soft sigh, Weiss continued, "Yang's right, I should get this out of the way. I owe the two of you at least this much for taking care of me. But before that, what happened to my clothes and to Myrte—my rapier?"

"Your rapier's in the other room, do you want me to go get it?" Yang asked as she nodded to the door. Weiss wasted no time in nodding her response, so Yang didn't waste much time either as she stood up with a smile, "Hold on a second."

"As for your clothes…" Ruby trailed off uneasily as Yang left the room, "We got them, but… they're torn beyond repair. I'm sorry, Weiss."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault," Weiss said hastily as she tried to think of a way to change the subject.

Luckily for both Ruby and Weiss, the change of subject presented itself in front of them as Yang had re-entered the room. With Myrtenaster in her hands. The rapier itself appeared to be in good shape apart from a few scratches on the blade that were not there a few days ago, much to Weiss' relief.

"While I don't know much about swords, I must say that I'm impressed at the quality of yours, Weiss," Yang said as she handed the rapier to its rightful owner. A smile found itself on her lips as she watched the heiress hold the rapier tenderly in her arms, but was forced to remove said smile for the matter at hand, "So, Weiss… about yesterday…"

"Right…" Weiss trailed off as she slowly lowered her hands and gently placed her beloved rapier in her lap, "I don't remember much, but I remember leaving my father's office…"

"Then how about you start from there?" Ruby suggested, and Weiss nodded.

Weiss closed her eyes, trying to remember and recall the memory of what happened to her the previous day and shuddered. With a deep breath, Weiss began telling the sisters everything that she remembered.

* * *

 _"You should already know this, but I am saying this again if it was yet to be made clear to you," Weiss' father sighed before shifting his position into a more comfortable one. Once satisfied, he continued, "After what happened with Winter… I want you to be extra careful from today onwards, you understand? Bring your rapier with you at all times if you have to."_

 _"I understand, father," Weiss nodded as she gently held the hilt of her rapier almost to reassure her father that she would not forget, "Then, if that is all…"_

 _"You're excused," Weiss father waved the heiress off, and the heiress was sure that she saw the remnants of a smile leave her father's lips when she straightened her body again._

 _Once outside, Weiss felt the chill of the hallway slowly seep into her body. The abnormally low temperature of the hall, despite Weiss' desperate attempts to stay as warm as possible, was causing the heiress to shiver involuntarily._

 _As the heiress let out a breath, she could see it condense into a cloud and remain hovering in front of her. Before she realized what was happening, Weiss had been standing motionless in the frigid hallway for several minutes. And she was regretting her decision to stay there._

 _After having her mind set to go visit her sister, Weiss found herself outside of the building and heading straight for the hospital._

 _It was clearly evident that the heiress was feeling uneasy. Not only were the dull, gray clouds above her bringing forth a gloomy atmosphere, but Weiss herself had the distinct feeling that she was not the only one walking down the dimly-lit streets._

 _Someone was following her… and Weiss didn't like the feeling that she was getting from her pursuer._

 _Tightening her hold on the hilt of her rapier, Weiss sped up in an effort to shake the person behind her. Much to the heiress chagrin, she didn't as she could still sense his presence behind her. What got to Weiss even more was that she knew that he was closing in on her._

 _Right when Weiss was about to take out her phone, she noticed just exactly where she was. Thinking of a way to guide her pursuer to where she wanted to go, Weiss dashed off into a nearby alleyway._

 _As the heiress expected and anticipated, the sound of another set of footsteps following her was quick to reach her ears. And Weiss smiled, knowing that she was ready for what was to come._

 _Seeing the familiar turn come into view, Weiss took it, brought out Myrtenaster and held it ready. Ready to pierce through the person who dared to follow her this far._

 _And pierce through flesh it did as droplets of blood splattered on the ground._

 _"I see… so you lured me all the way out here to kill me…" the mysterious man muttered while wiping off the blood from his cheek. His dark gray hair, that fell in front of his forehead in thin bangs, was slightly obscuring his gray eyes, though did nothing to stop Weiss from seeing the darkness in them. He wore a black shirt with white markings on it under a black jacket and black pants, "It's been interesting so far… Now let's see if you can entertain me some more!"_

 _The man swiftly took out two curved daggers from his pockets and wasted no time in attacking the heiress. Stunned at first at the sudden action, Weiss was left completely at her adversary's attacks._

 _And Weiss had to pay the bitter price for her mistake._

 _The man's attacks were fluid and Weiss couldn't find an opening in the onslaught. The man was also incorporating kicks in his attacks a lot more than Weiss had anticipated, and his kicks managed to parry Weiss' thrusts enough times for him to slash at her with one of his daggers._

 _"How are you—" Weiss muttered to herself but stopped once she realized where she was. The man's attacks weren't only to hurt her; they had been to drive her into a corner. And much like the cornered animal that she was, that was exactly where she was._

 _"For someone who managed to set up this alleyway fight to fight me…" the man trailed off as he nonchalantly spun one of his daggers in his hand, "You're not so impressive after all."_

 _Weiss, having given in to her anger and frustration, thrust her rapier at the man with all the strength that she had left…_

 _Only to watch it spin through the air after having been deflected by the man's dagger._

 _"Well… I guess you could say that this little training session was fun…" the man trailed off with a smirk, "But you know what they say: all good things must come to an end!"_

 _Before Weiss knew what was happening, the man had already delivered the finishing blow in the form of a kick in the heiress' stomach. As Weiss held her stomach in pain while laying flat on the ground, she looked up in time to see the man's mouth close and turn into a smirk._

* * *

"Then he walked off… And that is all that I remember," Weiss ended with a sigh, "That was when I found myself waking up here."

"You've been through a lot…" Yang muttered slowly, being the first of the two sisters to be able to respond to Weiss' story. As the silence grew too heavy for Yang to handle, she stood up and took the bowl with her, "Feel free to stay here for as long as you like, Weiss. But for now, I suggest just resting up. Even if you think you're fine, I'm sure that you've burned yourself out quite a bit."

"How about we go somewhere to take your mind away from things?" Ruby suddenly suggested, grabbing the attention of both Weiss and Yang, the latter still being in the room. As she felt herself tense up at the looks that she was given, Ruby added, "I mean, you've had a bad day yesterday so how about we do something to make you feel better?"

"Come on, Rubes…" Yang sighed as she gave her sister an exasperated look, "Do you really think that Weiss would want to—"

"That might actually be a good idea," Weiss mused silently before turning to Ruby, "What do you have in mind?"

"I might know a few places nearby we could go to," Ruby grinned as she smirked in her sister's direction, "Are you coming with us?"

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to sit this one out," Yang smiled sadly as she stood up, "You two have fun!"

"Whatever you say, Yang," Ruby shrugged before turning to Weiss, "We might want to get you a change of clothes before heading out."

"I—" Weiss began but stopped once she finally took a second to look at what she was actually wearing: pajamas consisting of a dark-grey long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Seeing that Ruby had a point, Weiss gave in, "You're right… but didn't you say that my clothes couldn't be repaired?"

"I did, but that doesn't mean that we can't get you a change of clothes," Ruby grinned as she jumped up, "Just wait here for a minute, I'll be right back. I'm sure I have some clothes that you can borrow."

"Ah! Ruby! Wait!" Weiss called out, but she knew she was too late, Ruby had already left the room by the time that Weiss had opened her mouth. With a sigh of defeat, Weiss lowered her head into her hands and waited. It was only when she felt the presence of somebody else sitting down beside her that she looked up to see Yang, "So is your sister always like this?"

"Like what? Amazing?" Yang chuckled as she made herself comfortable on the bed before she smiled, "But in all seriousness, yes… our parents have taught us to do whatever we can to help our friends, and Ruby has really taken that to heart. We're your friends, Weiss, so please don't be afraid to rely on us for a bit."

"Thanks, Yang, I appreciate it," Weiss smiled as she twirled a lock of hair on her finger.

Both Weiss and Yang fell into a silence after that, but one that was both comforting and welcomed.

"Sorry for the wait, Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed as she burst back into the room. The brunette had already changed her clothes, opting to wear a light blue long-sleeved T-shirt under a crimson hoodie with a blue skirt to match her shirt, "Here, try these on."

"These…" Weiss muttered as she looked at the clothes that Ruby was offering her, a white collar shirt, black sweater, and pink skirt, "I appreciate the gesture, Ruby, but… these clothes don't really suit me."

"Which is exactly why it is a good idea to wear this," Yang said and Ruby nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Upon seeing the perplexed look on Weiss' face, Yang sighed before elaborating, "Look… you were most likely attacked because you stand out as Weiss Schnee among the crowd. If you wear these, something that the general public knows that you wouldn't wear, it should reduce the chances of you being attacked again."

"Exactly!" Ruby chimed in after shooting an appreciative nod in Yang's direction, "Come on Weiss, what do you say?"

"I guess I don't have much of a choice…" Weiss sighed before taking the clothes from Ruby's still outstretched hands, "I'll be right back."

"First door on your right!" Ruby called out to Weiss' leaving figure, and the brunette was sure that she heard Weiss calling out a 'thank you' over her shoulder. Once Ruby was sure that Weiss was out of earshot she turned to her sister, "You think that I made the right call?"

"No," Yang responded bluntly, catching Ruby off-guard but smiling shortly after regardless, "But I'm sure that you have something in mind, so I'll just have to trust your judgment on this one."

"Thanks, Yang!" Ruby beamed as she hugged her sister, an action that was returned in kind as the brunette felt the familiar feeling of Yang's arms around her.

A few seconds later, Weiss re-entered the room after having fully changed herself. Remembering the sisters' comments about disguising herself, Weiss had even gone and let her hair hang freely; something that both Ruby and Yang didn't expect to see.

"Well… I guess they _do_ kind of look good on me after all," Weiss muttered as she stepped back inside the room while looking at the clothes that she was wearing.

"You look great in them, Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed happily, startling the heiress as Ruby started to look at Weiss from various angles, "Yup, they fit you better than I thought they did!"

"Thanks…" Weiss muttered, not knowing how else to respond. Turning to Ruby, Weiss asked, "So, where are we going?"

"Oh, you'll see when we get there, Weiss," Ruby grinned as she grabbed Weiss by the wrist and pulled her out of the room; but not before calling out to her sister, "Bye, Yang!"

"Have fun, you two!" Yang grinned as she watched the two of them go, smiling contently at herself at Ruby's actions.

* * *

"And that is what happened," Yang finished as she placed her mug down on the table again, "Or, at the very least, the short version of what happened… poor Weiss…"

"I see…" Blake muttered as she took a sip of tea.

The raven haired woman had arrived at Yang's house a few hours after Ruby and Weiss left and enjoying a nice cup of tea with her. The sun was already setting in the background, casting the house in a warm orange light, as the two old friends had made themselves comfortable on the sofa.

"So Ruby thinks that wherever it is she is bringing Weiss would help in making her feel better?" Blake asked as she looked out the window with a smile, "She must either be extremely over-enthusiastic or she must know something about Weiss that neither of us do. I hope for their sake that it's the latter."

"I hope so, too," Yang muttered as she stood up and went to the kitchen to eye the oven. Smiling, she took two mitts, put them on and took out a covered pot from inside the oven. Careful so as to not drop it, Yang slowly stumbled back to the sofa and placed the pot on the coffee table with a soft thud, "There! We should leave some for Ruby and Weiss for when they come back, but I don't think that they will be back anytime soon. Dig in, Blake!"

"You know me too well…" Blake muttered, but couldn't hide the smile from forming as she saw what Yang had prepared for her. Seeing the look on Blake's face and Yang had to use all of her willpower not to roar in laughter. As Blake was filling up her bowl with the curry, she turned to Yang, "This looks as great as always!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Yang grinned as she gestured towards Blake's bowl. Blake didn't waste another second to start eating, much to Yang's visible amusement, "But you know that this meal isn't free, right? I know that it has only been a day, but have you found out anything yet?"

"Unfortunately, I haven't…" Blake admitted sadly as she watched the still steaming liquid swirl around in her bowl, "Neo didn't know a lot, either, and it's still a lot to take in, let alone look into. I've managed to go back to that day and at least got the names of the people present, but that's basically as far as I got."

"It's only been one day, don't beat yourself up over it, alright?" Yang encouraged her friend, her efforts working as Blake looked like she was feeling a bit better, "Ren might be able to help us out in looking into this, I can ask him for help."

"I can take care of this mys—" Blake began, but was interrupted when a hand was shoved in her face and she almost fell off the sofa.

"The last time you said that you could take care of something this big on your own you ended up not sleeping for five consecutive days," Yang pointed out seriously, but with a confident smirk on her face nonetheless, "I'm asking Ren for his help. Besides, if they're as dangerous as Neo said and Weiss showed they are then we want to get the answer as soon as possible before another one of our friends gets hurt."

"I guess you're right…" Blake gave in as she realized that Yang had a point.

Yang grinned triumphantly as she took out her phone, but was shocked to see it vibrate before even touching it. Seeing the name Lie Ren pop up, Yang was both happy and surprised, but picked up nonetheless, "Ren? Perfect timing! I was—what? S-Sure…"

"Yang? What's wrong?" Blake asked, suddenly alert and worried as she noticed the change in Yang's tone.

"Ren told us to turn on the television…" Yang muttered, scanning the room for the remote before finding it on top of the television itself and turning it on, "I wonder why he would—"

"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news," a reporter on the television announced, quieting Yang and grabbing both women's attention as the camera focused on a building that Blake knew all too well, "Earlier today, an attempted murder occurred here at the Schnee's manor. The Schnee's are—"

"Yeah yeah, we all know that already!" Blake huffed impatiently, "Get on to the actual news! Is he…"

"Fortunately, Mr. Schnee, the victim of today's attack, survived despite suffering heavy injuries," the reporter continued, and both Blake and Yang heaved a sigh of relief hearing this, "We have received footage of the incident, and will be playing it for you. If any of you know the offenders of today's incident, please contact the officials immediately."

"Wait, are those—?!" Blake exclaimed in shock as the footage was played, not wanting to believe her eyes.

"No…" Yang deflated as she saw it as well.

The footage was showing the unconscious body of Mr. Schnee laying on the floor of what appeared to be his office, heavily bruised and beaten. The camera then focused on the two figures standing by his side with triumphant smirks on their faces.

One of the women was a brunette wearing a light blue long-sleeved T-shirt under a crimson hoodie with a blue skirt to match her shirt while the other woman had long, white hair and was wearing a white collar shirt, black sweater, and pink skirt.

* * *

 **Fun fact: not only is today's ending the primary reason why I pushed this chapter's upload date forward, but it was also one of the first scenes planned out when brainstorming ideas for this story.**

 **Again, more so now because of the significant gap until the next update, I'd like to know what you guys think. Tell me what you think I did well, what you think I should work on in future chapters, what you think will happen and what you were feeling whilst reading this. Just let your inner-reviewer run wild (as long as it is on-topic)! I'd really love reading what you thought of this and, who knows? Maybe you correctly predicted a significant event in a future chapter and we all have proof that you called it all the way back in your review for the seventh chapter!**

 **Oh, before I forget (since I made references to them in this chapter): I do not own Inazuma Eleven, Toaru Majutsu no Index or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, either; nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

 **As always, and I don't think I have ever emphasized this enough: thank you so much for reading this chapter and for all your support! Until next time (whenever that may be)! Take care!**


	8. The Search for Answers

**Well… the last chapter was fun! Let's see how this one does.**

 **Thank you to all the kind souls who have reviewed the last chapter, and thank you for your patience for my newer, slower update speed. And thank _you_ , Namitaa776 and LightZephyr, for helping out in this chapter. And, finally, thank you to everybody who followed and/or favorited this story! When I first started this, I never expected it to receive even half of the support that it did.**

 **So I want to thank everybody for everything, and I hope that you enjoy today's chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

Last time on Field of Tomorrow…

 _"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news," a reporter on the television announced, quieting Yang and grabbing both women's attention as the camera focused on a building that Blake knew all too well, "Earlier today, an attempted murder occurred here at the Schnee's manor. The Schnee's are—"_

 _"Yeah yeah, we all know that already!" Blake huffed impatiently, "Get on to the actual news! Is he…"_

 _"Fortunately, Mr. Schnee, the victim of today's attack, survived despite suffering heavy injuries," the reporter continued, and both Blake and Yang heaved a sigh of relief hearing this, "We have received footage of the incident, and will be playing it for you. If any of you know the offenders of today's incident, please contact the officials immediately."_

 _"Wait, are those—?!" Blake exclaimed in shock as the footage was played, not wanting to believe her eyes._

 _"No…" Yang deflated as she saw it as well._

 _The footage was showing the unconscious body of Mr. Schnee laying on the floor of what appeared to be his office, heavily bruised and beaten. The camera then focused on the two figures standing by his side with triumphant smirks on their faces._

 _One of the women was a brunette wearing a light blue long-sleeved T-shirt under a crimson hoodie with a blue skirt to match her shirt while the other woman had long, white hair and was wearing a white collar shirt, black sweater, and pink skirt._

* * *

"This can't be happening…" a certain blonde groaned as she rested her forehead on the table, drawing in worried looks from both her friends in the room. Yang either didn't process this or chose to ignore it entirely.

"I don't want to believe it, either, Yang…" Blake muttered carefully, before seeing the look on the third person's face and quickly adding, "I mean _we_ don't want to believe it, either."

"Exactly," Ren said as he pressed several keys on his laptop, his eyes darting between several windows that were on the screen, each one displaying a different timeframe on the footage. Without looking up, Ren asked Yang, "Have you tried calling Ruby?"

"I did, but she didn't answer," Yang replied while opening her phone, showing the twenty calls that she had made to her sister earlier to her friend, "Blake also tried Weiss, but without any luck there, either."

Hearing her name called, Blake looked up before fully processing what had been said. Nodding in confirmation, the raven-haired took out her own phone to show the handful of calls that she made to Weiss.

"I see…" Ren trailed off as he closed one window only to bring up three more, his brow furrowing in concentration.

"But don't you think that it's strange?" Blake asked, having taken a look over Ren's shoulder before turning to Yang again, "I mean, the whole mess aside… wouldn't Ruby be contacting somebody she could go to for comfort if something like this would happen?"

"Either that, or she doesn't know," Ren offered while his gaze lingered on one particular shot of the scene, "That is, assuming that they are innocent."

"Ren!"

"I don't want to believe that they're guilty, either, but let's look at the facts here," Ren argued back, turning his laptop around and showing the image of the two girls towering above the unconscious Schnee, "How would you explain that there are two girls with the exact same hairstyle _and_ color as Ruby and Weiss, who wore the exact same clothes as they wore on that day, and who managed to sneak into the Schnee's house undetected enough to be able to do this if it _isn't_ them?"

Silence filled the room as nobody could answer the programmer. Blake was staring silently at the image while Yang had turned away before Ren could even show what was on his laptop's screen.

"That's…" Blake began but didn't know how she could continue. Rather, she didn't want to admit what she was thinking out loud.

"You know that I'm here to help and that I don't want them to have done this as much as either of you," Ren said, trying to be calm but a slight tremor was still audible in his voice. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "So I'll see if there is something in these videos that can prove their innocence. Until then, Yang, I need you to try to get in contact with them. If they know of this and they are innocent, where would they go?"

Blake and Ren both became silent, neither of them looking away from the blonde as they waited patiently for her to give them her answer.

"There… wouldn't be a lot of places…" Yang finally said after a few seconds, her voice unsteady and her face hidden from the other two, "Apart from here, there's Nora and Neo… our dad is overseas and Ruby knows that, so I doubt that she would go to his place. I don't know where Weiss would go, though."

"That's good." Ren smiled, catching Yang off guard. Ignoring the blonde's reaction, Ren turned to look at Blake before the two nodded simultaneously with a smile.

"We can divide the job and get things done faster," Blake said, trying to ease Yang's worries but only ended up making her more confused.

"You and Blake can go to Nora and Neo to see if they have heard anything of Ruby," Ren elaborated before placing a hand on his own laptop, "And in the meantime, I'll see if I can find anything more from these videos. As bad as they may be, I'm sure that there is something that I missed that may prove to be important. For all we know, they could just have been passing by after Weiss' father got attacked."

"I can check on Nora myself, so go and ask Neo if she's seen or heard from Ruby," Blake picked up right where Ren left off while standing up straight, directing her words at a now smiling Yang, "That way, we can hopefully get an answer faster. I'll contact you if Nora knows anything."

"Ren… Blake…" Yang breathed out, looking at her two friends with a grateful smile. Exhaling audibly, Yang stood up herself and grabbed her keys before turning back to the other two, "Alright, let's do this!"

* * *

Not long after that, Blake found herself walking down an unfamiliar road that she hoped would lead to Nora's. Despite having visited her energetic friend several times in the past, Ren had suggested a different route that, according to him, would save her some time.

And they all knew that time was not a luxury that they had a lot of.

Much to Blake's surprise, it only took her five minutes to reach Nora's house after leaving Yang's. All the while pondering as to why she never took this shorter route before, Blake knocked on the door.

"Just a sec!" a familiar voice came from the other end, and Blake grimaced slightly as she heard a crash and a muffled curse a bit later.

Blake did not have long to wait; after five seconds, the door opened to see a slightly disheveled Nora in the opening. The orange-haired girl's face quickly brightened up when she saw who came to visit her.

"Blake! It's been a while!" Nora exclaimed as she grabbed the raven-haired by the wrist and effectively dragged her back inside, "Come in come in! Sorry, things are a bit of a mess inside."

Before she knew what was going on, Blake found herself sitting on a familiar couch in the living room as Nora came back with two cups of tea in hand. After offering Blake one of the two, Nora plopped down on the other end of the couch and eyed her friend.

"Not that I don't appreciate that you came here, but why are you here?" Nora asked, slightly careful with her choice of words from past interactions with Blake, "You never did anything without a really good reason, and I don't think you started now. And, no offense, I don't think you would come visit me just for the sake of visiting me. I'd be happy if you were, though."

"Jumping straight to the point as always, I see," Blake muttered with a small smile. Nora replied with a large grin of her own before motioning for Blake to continue, "I was wondering; have you seen Ruby today?"

The words had barely left Blake's mouth and Nora's expression had already changed. Instead of being radiating with energy and happiness, the usually bubbly girl now wore a frown on her face.

"So it's true, isn't it? I mean, if you came all the way here just to ask me then it has to be true, right?" Nora asked in response, suddenly completely deflated but with a small ounce of hope still left in her voice.

"You knew?" Blake questioned her friend before she fully realized what she was doing. Hastily, she tried to correct her mistake, "I mean, as bad as it may look like, we don't know for sure whether or not they did it. That is why we wanted to ask them ourselves, but we haven't been able to get in touch with them since the report. You were one of the first people who came to mind who we thought she would go to in this situation."

With a sigh and a quiet chuckle, Nora said, "Sorry, but I haven't seen her today. I haven't seen her for a few days now, actually. Sorry, Blake, I wish I could be of more help to—"

"Don't feel bad about it," Blake interjected, trying to ease her worries. Blake knew that, no matter how good of a front she put up, even Nora would be affected by the worries of a friend's safety. In an effort to try and cheer Nora up, Blake added, "I'm sure that they didn't do it, so—"

"Blake, don't lie; I know that you're only saying that to try and make me feel better," Nora said with a frown, this time taking her opportunity to interrupt her friend to the fullest. While Blake stumbled for words to say, Nora smiled, "Thank you, though, I appreciate it. If Ruby comes here, I'll be sure to let you know!"

"Thanks, Nora," Blake smiled in return, and the two friends shared the comfortable silence that followed together. Taking a sip of her now cold tea, Blake tried to think of something to say when her eyes landed on the multiple cardboard boxes in the corner, "Do you need help with cleaning up?"

"Huh? Nononono! You shouldn't be wasting your time with that," Nora scolded lightheartedly before adding with a smile, "You said that I was 'one of the first people to come to mind', right? Then you need to put in the effort and go see the other people. Not just for Ruby's sake, but for theirs as well."

"You're right…" Blake smiled as she placed her cup back on the table, "I'll keep you notified if we find out anything."

"You better!" Nora grinned, before standing up and letting her friend out. Once the two of them were outside, the orange-haired turned to her friend with a serious look on her face, "You don't think that they did it, right?"

"I… don't know… I wish I could say that they didn't," Blake answered honestly after a moment's hesitation, much to Nora's disappointment, "We can only hope that they really _are_ innocent."

* * *

With a grunt, Yang stepped out of her car and slammed the door shut, a little harder than she had wanted to. After making sure that it was properly locked, the blonde stepped out on the sidewalk and walked up to the house in front of her.

Without wasting another second, Yang started pounding on the door hard enough to wake the entire neighborhood.

"Oi! Half Pint! Open up!"

After an extended period of time of no response from the occupant of the house, and an excessive amount of door knocking on her end, Yang was about to kick the door in herself when the door finally opened.

Standing in the door opening was a very irate-looking Neo, her hair slightly disheveled, and visibly exhausted. Wearing a unicorn onesie.

"You know, Yang," Neo said, the irritation dripping from her voice as she glared at the taller blonde, " _Some_ people are trying to sleep at this hour."

"Oh, I'm sorry for disturbing your little beauty sleep," Yang spat back with sarcasm while placing both hands on her hips, "But isn't letting a friend in whenever they need to be let in the true meaning of being a friend?"

"Yeah, a friend…" Neo muttered softly, looking away from the taller blonde.

"So, am I not your friend?"

Yang's response was getting the door slammed in her face.

"Oh, come on, Neo, let me in," Yang pleaded, now slightly fearful that the shorter girl was going to ignore her completely, "I need to ask you something."

Slowly, as if still contemplating her actions, Neo opened the door while maintaining her glare, "You better not make me regret this."

With a mental fist pump, Yang followed Neo to the living room, after which Neo excused herself for several minutes to let Yang get comfortable.

Taking a quick glance around, Yang noted that not a lot had changed in the room since she last time that she visited her friend. All the furniture looked the same and even located in the same place. The only thing that was new, Yang realized, was the new standing lamp in the corner.

"Do you want something to drink?"

Yang jolted, not hearing Neo re-enter the room. Turning in the direction of her voice, Yang saw that Neo had not only changed her outfit but was holding several bottles of different kinds of juices in her arms as well.

"No thanks, I'm good," Yang replied with a smile, to which Neo shrugged. Despite knowing that her guest didn't want anything, Neo didn't bring the bottles away; instead, deciding that holding them close to her was the best possible action to take.

Yang, knowing that the silence was supposed to be broken eventually, opened her mouth to say something.

"So…"

"What did you want to ask me?" Neo asked, completely disregarding the fact that Yang might have wanted to say something. While waiting for a response, Neo opened one of the bottles that she had brought with her and poured a considerable amount of murky green liquid in a glass that Yang was certain was not there two seconds ago.

"Have you seen or heard from Ruby today?" Yang asked Neo, deciding that the best approach to the situation that she had found herself in was the direct approach.

Neo's reaction wasn't anything like how Yang thought she would react.

"Why would she have come to see me? Wasn't she supposed to be out with another friend today?" Neo asked, slightly uncertain as she eyed Yang carefully, "Yang, what's going on?"

"Neo, don't tell me that you don't follow the news," Yang deadpanned as she eyed Neo before looking at the TV in the corner.

"It would be a lot easier if you told me what happened," Neo huffed, both in annoyance and impatience. Even so, they both knew that Neo was just trying to dodge the accusation, "What happened to Ruby?"

"That's the thing; we don't know," Yang said with a sigh, looking up to see the doubtful and confused eyes of her friend, "She is being accused of attacking someone, but—"

"Ruby would never!" Neo shouted before she fully processed what she was doing. Once the words left her mouth, Neo added sheepishly, "Sorry."

"You're right, though. Ruby would never do that," Yang said with a small smile, and Neo returned it with a smile of her own, "I thought that she might have come here, which is why I came here. Sorry to bother you this late, Neo."

"It's o-o-kay," Neo was barely audible as she let out a big yawn, "I'll keep you updated if I hear anything from her if you do the same for me."

"Of course!"

* * *

About an hour later, Yang arrived back home to see the lights in her living room on. Shrugging it off, the blonde opened the door and headed straight to the source of light.

"No dice with Neo…" Yang muttered, exhausted as she practically deflated in her seat, "I went to Jaune as well, but he didn't hear or see anything from Ruby, either."

"Unfortunately, the same is true with Nora and Pyrrha," Blake added with a frown as she offered Yang a glass of water, which the blonde happily accepted, "Are you sure that it's okay for us to be staying over like this?"

"It's fine, Blake…" Yang sighed before mumbling something else under her breath. Yang made sure that nobody could hear what she was saying, and ignored the look that Blake was giving her.

"But back on topic," Blake began, having accepted the fact that Yang wouldn't tell her and turning to the other occupant of the room, "Ruby aside, how difficult is it to find the heiress of the biggest company of the city?"

"Quite difficult, apparently," Ren replied without looking away from the screen, "Either they are really good at hiding, really good at disguising themselves, or both."

"Yeah, about that…" Yang trailed off uneasily, gaining the attention of both her friends as she swallowed painfully, "Ruby and I may have insisted for Weiss to disguise herself."

" _Now_ you tell us?!" Blake exclaimed in both shock and anger as soon as she fully processed what Yang had said.

"In my defense, there were more important things to worry about than what they were wearing. For example: where is my sister?" Yang responded in a similar tone, causing Blake to flinch and Yang to reel back once she realized that she crossed the line. Meekly, she added, "Sorry."

"It's okay, Yang, we all understand how you feel," Ren said nonchalantly as he kept his attention on his screen, not wanting to look away in fear of losing where he was, "It just might make finding them a bit harder. Do you know where they went?"

"No, I don't. Ruby was adamant about not telling me where she was taking Weiss," Yang said after a moment's thought, and then her face paled considerably, "You don't think—"

"If you're already starting to feel that way then we're all lost," Blake said irritably as she slammed her open palm on the table, shaking the glasses on it and receiving an angry shout from Ren as he held his laptop protectively.

"Right…" Yang said, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Once she regained her breathing, she turned to Ren, "How about you? Did you have any luck today?"

"Well, I don't have… bad… news," Ren said carefully, "I know for a fact that neither of them left the city so that at least limits our options considerably."

"And with none of our friends having seen or heard from them, that tells us even more," Blake thought out loud as Ren nodded in agreement. Blake took a few seconds to think of something and, once deciding that she was comfortable sharing, turned to Ren, "How about trying that?"

"I was thinking of that as well, and I think that it's our best bet at this point," Ren said in response while eyeing his laptop once again, "Though it might not work at this hour."

"What are you two talking about?" Yang inquired as she looked at Blake then Ren then back to Blake.

"We kept thinking to ourselves that Ruby would go to some _one_ , and focused our attention on the possible people that she would seek," Ren began as Yang listened intensively, nodding silently to show that she was paying attention.

"But what if that wasn't the right way to go at all?" Blake continued, picking up where Ren left off as she turned to face Yang, "What if it is a _where_ that Ruby is seeking?"

Yang's eyes slowly widened in realization as she was starting to understand what her two friends were aiming for.

"Yang, you should know this better than anybody. If there is one place in this city that Ruby would go to in order to get comfort, where would it be?"

Yang bit her lower lip, fully understanding what her friends were saying but still hesitant to admit it. In part due to mentally beating herself up for forgetting that place, but also because she was hopeful.

Hopeful that she could find her sister there.

"Mom's grave…"

* * *

It was well past midnight, but Neo was still wide awake in her room as she went through file after file, her brows furrowed in concentration. Neo hadn't slept at all despite the state that she was in when Yang had visited the evening before, being completely invested in going through her stacks of papers.

Neo was comfortable muttering profanity after profanity under her breath at the blonde's expense.

Neo, as promised, had looked into the recent attacks that happened in the city and made a full record of every last one of them. She had stored them away to continue at a later date, but when Yang told her the news Neo couldn't help herself. As soon as the blonde had left, Neo went up to her room and took out her research in the hopes of finding something of value.

Unfortunately for Neo, she didn't find anything useful in the last five hours.

"This is infuriating!" Neo almost screamed, messing up her hair in frustration as she dropped the stacks of paper in her hands.

It was then that Neo's gaze fell on a certain framed picture on her desk, and she instantly stopped what she was doing.

Gingerly so as to not damage it in any way, Neo picked up the picture and stared at it longingly. Depicted in the image were the younger versions of Yang, Ruby, and Neo, hugging each other with big grins on their faces. Neo remembered that day all too well.

It was the day before she lost her ability to speak.

"Why?" Neo murmured softly, wiping the corners of her eyes as she realized that her vision was getting blurry, "Why Ruby?"

The pristine serenity of the night was broken when her doorbell rang like an alarm, startling Neo and almost making her fall out of her chair.

"What did I tell Yang?!" Neo huffed angrily as she got back on her feet and stomped in the direction of the door, "Don't come in the middle of the night and wake everybody up like that! But does she listen to anything I say? Nooooooooooooo…"

Murmuring some choice words under her breath, Neo yanked the door open with more force than necessary and yelled, "Yang, for the last time—!"

"It's been a while."

Neo froze. That wasn't Yang's voice. Opening her eyes, Neo took in the figure of the person standing in the door opening. But Neo's attention was mostly directed towards the blade in her hand.

The blade that was pointing straight at her.

* * *

 **And that wraps up this one!**

 **I hope you like today's chapter! Thank you for reading, leave a review if you like, and until next time! Take care!**


	9. A Silver Lining

**I… kind of expected this to happen after the last chapter, but that doesn't mean that I am any less speechless now. This story has gotten over a hundred followers… Really, thank you all for supporting this story as much as you guys do!**

 **Today marks this story's one-year anniversary… so let's find out what this day has brought us, shall we?**

 **Special thanks to Namitaa776 and LightZephyr for, once again, helping me out in a big way for this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I do not intend to pretend that I own RWBY. And I will likely never own anything RWBY-related barring these RWBY fanfictions on this account.**

* * *

The sun was slowly making its presence known, signaling the start of a new day to everybody as it dyed everything in an orangey yellow color. The rays broke through the small hole in the curtain and forming a pool of light on the exhausted blonde's face.

Yang had barely slept, if at all, in the past couple of days. Despite the urging of her friends to get some rest, she hadn't been able to relax.

With a soft groan, the blonde looked up at the cause of her sleep deprivation and saw that Ruby's bed was in the same state as her heart. Empty.

Yang nearly jumped when she heard the doorbell, not expecting any visitors until a few hours later. Shrugging, she stood up from her seat and was about to rush out to answer whoever was outside when she noticed the state that she was in.

Ten minutes later, Yang, now dressed more appropriately, had opened the door for the waiting friend.

"Not that I don't like having you over," Yang began as she eyed her raven-haired friend, "But why are you here this early? Did you find anything?"

"Unfortunately not," Blake admitted with a sigh before leaning against the table. Despite being better at hiding it, even Yang could see the exhaustion that was slowly eating away at Blake as well.

Yang was so lost in her own little world that she barely registered the jab to her shoulder.

"What?" Yang asked, a bit louder and harsher than she had wanted it to come over as while rubbing the sore spot.

"I was asking whether you've eaten yet," Blake trailed off with a huff, slight annoyance evident in her tone as she dusted herself off before continuing, "But I should have known that the state that you are in."

Yang was about to retort when she saw her friend hop off the table and walk to the front door. Confused and genuinely curious, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get something to eat," Blake answered matter-of-factly with the doorknob in her hand, "And you're coming with me. You barely left your house since last week, have you?"

Unable to find a way to argue, Yang accepted her fate and followed Blake outside. Yang really _did_ stay at home most of the time since the incident, forcing her friends to come over to make sure that she was still taking care of herself, and was thus shocked at how beautiful the outside world was.

Shaking her head to get back to reality, Yang jogged a little to catch up to Blake before the two walked in a seemingly random direction in comfortable silence.

It wasn't long until Yang got tired of the silence, but before she could say something to break it someone had beaten her to it.

"Yang! Blake! Good morning!" a familiar voice came from behind the two, causing them to turn around and see Pyrrha, slightly out of breath but still smiling brightly, "How are you?"

"Have you heard anything yet?" Yang blurted out immediately, completely disregarding the question that she had been asked in favor of asking one of her own. With her attention not on her, Yang missed the defeated look on Blake's face, but she didn't miss the one on Pyrrha's.

"I am sorry, Yang, but I haven't," Pyrrha admitted sadly as she dug around in her pockets for something. Once she did, she took out her phone and checked something on the screen, "Ruby isn't the only one whom I haven't heard from in a while. I haven't been able to contact Neo lately, either."

"What?!" Yang and Blake exclaimed in shock, the former turned her own phone on and held it up to her ear while the latter turned to their red-haired friend, "That's not like Neo at all."

"That's what makes it even worse," Pyrrha responded with a frown, "Neo's—"

"She's not answering!" Yang shouted in frustration, pocketing her phone again when her efforts proved to be fruitless.

"I would go and check up on Neo myself if I did not have work in an hour," Pyrrha said as she put her own phone away and turned around, "Well, it was nice seeing you two again!"

"Bye!" Yang waved as Pyrrha jogged back the way she came from, only turning back to her companion when the redhead was out of sight, "So… what do you make of this?"

"I don't know," Blake sighed after a moment of silence, her brow furrowed as she tried to process the new piece of information that she had been given, "You think she's okay?"

"Let's find out!" Yang announced as she grabbed Blake's wrist and half-led-half-dragged her friend along, with the blonde actually ignoring the indignant cries coming from her captive.

The two of them didn't make it far, however, as the next distraction seemed to appear out of thin air.

Yang stopped mid-stride, receiving a curious look from Blake who was wondering why they had suddenly stopped before Yang started running through the red light.

"Yang!" Blake shouted, grasping wildly and managing to grab the collar of Yang's jacket. Not a second too late, too, as a car chose that exact moment to come speeding down the road and narrowly missed Yang, "What were you thinking?!"

"Didn't you see that?" Yang countered while pointing to the other side of the road in panic, causing Blake to frown in confusion. Yang, however, didn't let that stop her, and was already running again before it was safe to cross, "Come on!"

Forcing Blake to run after her to avoid getting left behind, Yang appeared to be running in a random direction to the raven haired. That was until she saw Yang's target as well, and then it clicked.

Taking a deep breath to rush forward in a quick burst, Blake overtook Yang and ran into the alley that her target had disappeared into moments ago.

'I knew I could count on you,' Yang thought with a smile as she saw her friend go, picking up her own pace to catch up. It wasn't long until she finally did, but what she saw wasn't what she had expected.

"You two really know how to make a scene, don't you?" the familiar voice scolded, a short figure glaring daggers at the two, "What were you thinking?"

"We heard that you were unreachable, and wanted to talk to you," Yang said, panting slightly as she turned to Blake. With a nod of approval, the blonde continued, "What happened to you?"

"This?" Neo asked as she twirled the strands of her black twin tails, "You know that I have to—"

"I do, and you know that that isn't what we're talking about here!" Yang interrupted angrily, catching Neo off-guard, "Why can't we contact you?"

"Here's why" Neo replied calmly as she fished around in her pockets before pulling out her phone. A large crack spread across the screen of the device from the lower left corner to the upper right one, and both Blake and Yang visibly calmed down after seeing it, "It broke a few days when I dropped it, and I haven't had the chance yet to get it fixed. You know you can always come to my place if there is something important, right?"

"Something… important…" Yang echoed before she finally looked like she remembered something herself, "Neo, have you found anything yet?!"

"I… may have come across something interesting…" Neo admitted slowly and almost hesitantly. She looked like she wanted to leave it at that, but when she saw the look on her friends' faces she quickly added, "But I don't want to get your hopes up yet. I want to confirm it for myself first."

"That's—" Yang began, but was interrupted herself when Blake stepped forward.

"Understandable," Blake finished, casting a sideways glance at her blonde friend in warning before turning back to the shorty in front of her, "Thanks, Neo."

"No problem!" Neo grinned as she calmly pocketed her phone back in her pocket.

"Though if I may ask… how will you tell us when you have confirmed it?" Blake wondered out loud, slightly startled at the condescending looks that she was receiving from both Neo and Yang as a result, "What?"

"I can always come by with what I've found," Neo shrugged nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "And if you or anybody need me, I'm sure you all know where to find me by now."

It was at that moment that both Blake's and Yang's phones decided to ring and, with a lack of anything better to do, Neo crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall while waiting.

Neo amused herself by watching the expressions and, more specifically, the changing expressions on both Blake and Yang as they listened to whoever was on the other end of the call.

Yang was the first to finish.

"It was great seeing you again, Neo, but I have to go now," Yang said as she took out her phone again for a bit to check the time, "Apparently, two new members have signed up and want to see me to get a good impression of the training."

"I guess I'll see you around then," Neo shrugged as both she and Yang turned to Blake, who had just pocketed her phone as well, "And what are you going to do?"

"Ren said that he found something and wanted to show me," Blake answered as she turned to her friends, "I'll keep in touch."

And with that, Blake left the alley without another word, her sight set on a familiar male's house. This left an awkward silence between Yang and Neo.

"You better keep in touch with us as well!" Yang said as she pointed to Neo, the threat not being registered as such thanks to the smile on the blonde's face, "I have to go as well, but I expect to be the first to hear it when you find anything!"

"Right right…" Neo said nonchalantly as she waved Yang off, waiting for her to be out of earshot before fumbling around in her pockets again.

The object that was in her open palm was a small metallic emblem in the shape of a rose.

"Ruby…"

* * *

It only took Yang ten minutes to reach her gym, and another five to get a change of clothes for the occasion. Once content with her appearance, she pulled her hair into a high ponytail and walked into the next room where the new members were waiting for her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Yang said with a sing-song voice as she walked inside with a spring in her strides, "I'm Yang Xiao Long, a pleasure to meet you!"

The two people who were already waiting in the room turned at Yang's entrance and smiled when they saw her. One of them was a mint-haired woman wearing a black shirt and blue shorts, who quickly put her phone away when she realized who was in the room.

The other waiting member was a male about a head taller than her with short dark gray hair, wearing a black shirt with white markings on them and black pants. He seemed almost bored as his eyes were looking around the training room but he, too, seemed to be a lot livelier when Yang entered.

"The pleasure is ours," the mint-haired woman said with a slight dip of her head, accepting the outstretched arm of Yang's after a split-second hesitation, "My name is Emerald, and this is Mercury. We just moved in here and were desperate to find a gym to train in, so finding yours by chance was a really fortunate break for us."

"I'm glad to hear that!" Yang smiled before gesturing for the two to follow them, "Since you're new here, I'll show you around a bit so you can see what you want to use later."

"That's very kind of you," Emerald responded, Mercury only looking at the two interacting in silence, "Let's go, Mercury."

And without waiting for Yang, despite the fact that it was the blonde who was supposed to lead the tour, the two newcomers walked off.

Yang couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy at their presence but pushed the feeling down as she ran to catch up to the two.

* * *

Meanwhile, Blake had reached Ren's house and was currently looking over the video that the male was playing on his computer. The room was a mess, supportive of the fact that Ren had been focusing all his time and energy in this, and so Blake was forced to watch over his shoulder.

The video was depicting the security footage from the Schnee Manor, depicting the scene of the crime right before it happened. Blake had managed to get her hands on it, and she had sent it to Ren in the hopes that he could make more of it.

"It starts about here…" Ren mumbled as he pressed a few keys on his keyboards, the video now playing at half speed to allow the two to make more of the scene. As the video played, Ren was pointing at several points on the screen.

"Wait, stop there!" Blake exclaimed suddenly, jerking forward and startling Ren in the process, "Can you rewind a little bit?"

"Sure," Ren muttered, pressing a button to make the video play in reverse while trying to see what Blake had noticed. Unlike his companion, he didn't seem like he understood what was going on.

"Right there!" Blake suddenly announced, pointing at the screen and prompting Ren to pause the video, "Can you zoom in on this part over here?"

Obediently, Ren typed the command to allow them to enlarge the image, and the male thought that he finally understood what Blake was talking about.

"What is it about that sword that interests you?" Ren asked as he eyed the blade, its polished metal reflecting the light and significantly obscuring the view from the camera.

"You haven't noticed it yet?" Blake asked, slightly shocked that it took the male this long to figure it out. As a matter of fact, Ren didn't seem like he realized at all what was so special, so Blake decided to give him another hint, "Take a close look at it."

"A close look…?" Ren repeated slowly as he directed his attention back to the screen, trying to find what was so special about it when his eyes drifted to the hilt. Smiling, and mentally berating himself for the fact that it took him so long to realize, he turned to Blake with a serious look on his face, "I'm not sure if it would be enough to prove their innocence."

"It might be, but it should be something at the very least," Blake replied as she turned back to the image with a smile of her own, her gaze landing on the deadly weapon held in the girl's right hand.

* * *

After watching her friends leave, Neo had taken her time to walk back home. Despite the distance that she would have to cover, she was content with taking it easy and taking the more scenic route.

On her way, she stopped by the supermarket and was now carrying a plastic bag worth of groceries in either hand. While this was visibly slowing the girl down, she was still carrying a content smile on her face when she looked forward to sitting back and enjoying the goods.

As Neo was walking, she quickly zoned out while making her way through the familiar streets. It didn't seem like a lot of time had passed when she had to get back to reality.

She had reached her house before she even realized it.

"A lot sure has happened since…" Neo mused as she gently placed one of the bags on the sidewalk to fish for her keys. Once she managed to grab a hold of it, she took it out, unlocked the front door, and walked in after grabbing the other bag again.

While she had expected it, something still felt off when she walked inside. Shrugging in an effort to get rid of the alien feeling, Neo headed over to the kitchen where she dropped off the two bags before heading upstairs to her room.

Looking around, the first thing that Neo saw was the binder on her table, being positioned exactly opposite to the door. Sighing, she couldn't help but walk over to it and flip through the pages until she reached that page again.

For some reason, she always ended up on that exact same page again whenever she touched the binder, even when she tried to avoid that page altogether.

And, before she knew what was happening, Neo remembered the events of that day once again…

* * *

 _Murmuring some choice words under her breath, Neo yanked the door open with more force than necessary and yelled, "Yang, for the last time—!"_

 _"It's been a while."_

 _Neo froze. That wasn't Yang's voice. Opening her eyes, Neo took in the figure of the person standing in the door opening. But Neo's attention was mostly directed towards the blade in her hand._

 _The blade that was pointing straight at her._

 _"What are you doing here?" Neo breathed out, eyeing the blade before turning to the person holding the weapon, "Could you put that down, please?"_

 _"Sorry, we had to make sure that it was really you," the shorter of the two explained, the lighting behind Neo not quite enough to illuminate and reveal the speaker's face, but Neo was sure that it was female by the sound of it, "We need your help."_

* * *

Neo sighed, trying to shake that memory away as she knew that she needed to get back to reality. There were things that only she could do, and she knew that she had to do them well.

'No,' Neo thought, reminding herself of the stakes as the memories of that day resurfaced once again, 'It's not just that I have to do it but that other people are counting on me!'

Neo wanted to continue going through her files again, but her stomach had other plans if the loud rumbling was any indication. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to munch on one of the snacks that she had bought earlier, Neo closed the binder and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

The only thing was that she wasn't alone in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Neo asked with a frown, one on of her hands quickly finding its place on her hip as she eyed the person who beat her to the kitchen.

"Ah, Neo!" the brunette smiled, only then noticing the new presence in the room before she raised her head from the plastic bag, "Um… I was trying to find a way to help you unload the groceries."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Neo sighed, motioning for her friend to move aside so that she could put everything away herself. As she was doing that, she murmured loud enough to be audible, "You would only eat everything yourself if you could help it…"

"Hey!"

"Are you denying it then, Ruby?" Neo challenged with a smirk, sure that she knew her childhood friend well enough to know that—

"No…" Ruby mumbled, admitting defeat with her tail behind her legs, and Neo smirked. She didn't spend long in that state, however, as she quickly perked up again when she realized something, "Is there something else I can do to help?"

A short pause, in which Neo was visibly thinking over her options before slowly shaking her head, "Nothing comes to mind."

"Aw…" Ruby whined but accepted her fate as she went to the living room instead where another familiar face was already there.

"Trying to find if they have found anything yet," the white-haired woman answered without looking from her phone, her eyes glued to the screen as the illuminated letters scrolled past, "But I'm having no luck yet."

Ruby was about to respond but was interrupted when Neo had walked in again, a bar of chocolate in one hand and a can of juice in the other.

"No luck with you, either?" Neo asked the heiress, who looked up in slight shock before shaking her head in response. A sigh escaped Neo's lips, "Nobody is getting any progress done, it seems…"

Neo took a sip of her drink but felt uneasy when she knew that somebody was watching her. She didn't even need to look to know which of the two free loaders was the culprit.

"You know, Ruby, I ran into your sister today. She and Blake seem to have been working really hard lately to try and find you," Neo began as she took out her own phone, forgetting that it was broken and reluctantly putting it away again, "Are you sure that this is what you want?"

"Yes. Yang will understand," Ruby answered, slightly worried about making such a bold claim but not backing away from it, either, "You didn't tell them, did you?"

Neo frowned, not understanding why her friend was so stubborn, but respected the request. She shook her head.

"Thank you, Neo. I know it must've been hard for you to keep this a secret," Ruby smiled sadly as she looked off into the distance at nothing in particular, "I just wish it could have gone differently."

"Come on, Ruby, cheer up!" Neo tried to brighten the mood with a smile, but was hesitant to count it as a success when the brunette's face remained downcast, "You two are still safe and nobody has come after you; that should mean something, right? You have to make the little things count!"

"I guess you're right…" Ruby sighed as she plopped down on the couch beside Weiss. After a few seconds of contemplating something that was on her mind, Ruby looked up, "Hey, Neo, I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now."

"Ask away!" Neo took her own seat while motioning the brunette to continue, waiting to hear the question.

"What is three plus ten?" Ruby asked, ignoring the look that she was getting from the woman on her right as her attention was directed fully towards her childhood friend.

"Thirteen, but you should know that already," Neo frowned as she tried to think of a reason as to why Ruby would ask her such a simple math question, "Why did you ask?"

Ruby grinned, "I just made a little thing count."

It was on that night that Ruby and Weiss learned to never get on Neo's bad side again.

* * *

 **And that wraps up this story's one-year anniversary special! I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it! If you have some time to spare, how about leaving a review on your way out?**

 **Thank you for reading, and until next time! Take care, everybody!**


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